Sammy's Southern Sojourn

Winter Holidays

2009-02-09T13:58:00.004+09:00

He he, i'm running out of excuses why i'm not maintaining this blog. I checked it out again after leaving it for a long time and I was surprised to realise that the last time I posted anything was the Summer holidays! It's now winter, or more correctly spring, if you follow the Chinese lunar calendar which i'm tempted to do because the last few days havent been as biterly cold as the winter here and the sunshine actually has some warmth to it when it makes an appearance.

Its now well and truly 2009 which is a bit scary because the years seem to be going by so quickly recently. Anyway, here is a bit of an update. Sarika is off the scene and i'm now living with a girl called Lisa, who is not my girlfriend by the way, just a good friend and life at home is very happy and peaceful at the moment. Work at school is still fun and although not perfect on a daily basis, i've signed up for another year there and that begins again on the 25th of this month. It will be the first time in a long time that i've worked at a place for more than a year and definitely the first time that i've ever taught the same grade and subject for two years in a row so i'm really looking forward to this year. Actually knowing what is ahead is a real novelty.

It's now almost a year to the day since I made the decision to come over here and I don't have plans to take off any time soon. My apartment is nice and i've got some good money coming in. I'm even starting to study a bit of the language which is very liberating as none of the locals speak English. I even had my first real holiday in a long time. After experiencing the bitter cold in Beijing last winter I definitely wanted to go south this year to escape the cold. However since i'm in China I also wanted to stay in China and have a look about here since this is where I live. Next time i'm going to go to Thailand or Vietnam, but this time I went to the southern cities of Guilin, Yangshou, Chengdu and also Sanya which is on Hainan Island. Reportedly, China's very own Hawaii.

I had a fun filled two and a half weeks and I now have a better understanding of the diversity of this big country and I've also seen and experienced some iconic Chinese things.

Here's a few links to the pictures in my album. I hope you enjoy! :)

FREE BEER

2008-07-13T19:55:00.003+09:00

Today is Sunday and I'm just composing myself to the fact that I don't have to go to school tomorrow. Something that I've been looking forward to for a long time, however due to the excitement of the past few months it has come around rather quickly. Yes, indeed I'm officially on summer holidays and am looking forward to getting out and about a bit more and soaking up the atmosphere, that is China, 2008, year of the dog, earthquake, green seas, tibet trouble, train crashes, winter freezes and the Olympic games.

I've got 6 weeks off and since during the last few years my past short breaks have had a full itinerary of travel, job-searching or both I've decided to plan little and aim to enjoy a lot. Coming to China has been a fantastic opportunity and the school has been fun, very stressful and busy at times, frustrating at other times but overall a good decision on all accounts.

Summer here has hit with all its force with days around 30 degrees and nights around 25. Humidity is thick at times. However, Qingdao, being a coastal city, the light sea breeze does make it really pleasant. The morning fog that hangs over the mountain behind my school is one example of a picture not dissimilar to any tropical island with the lush green trees in the foreground. Anyway, I digress. Free beer is the headline and I should let you know what that's all about.

During my year on Jeju-do I really didn't party it up too much. Because, well. There's just so much more to do and see there out-of-doors and the folks I mixed with... We had a few good parties but It just wasn't the place for regular night's out compared to the time before that I spent in Seoul.
This suited me very well at the time, as I've written about before. But Qingdao is different, the atmosphere is more festive and my friends here, well they love a party too.

Having said that, I've found it very difficult nye-on impossible lately to pay for a single drop! I've played soccer regularly on Thursday nights with a bunch of teachers at school and the owner of the school has joined in and has insisted that many of us head to the bar with him afterwards for much needed refreshments. So regular, in fact that the owner of the local bar we frequent after soccer has saw fit to furnish us with boxes of water during the game. I'm sure this is a savvy move to ensure we all visit his bar continuously, well hydrated and fit to drink copious amounts of the amber stuff. After which time the owner of our school in true Korean form insists on paying for everything.

The bar I mention is not the only one near the vicinity of our school but it is a recently opened one that my friend and I discovered prior to it's official opening. He shares the same desk block as me in the office and is a top bloke. He's; Mid fifties, super experienced teacher with no baggage and he's enthusiastic at school and at anything else he chooses to undertake. This includes sniffing out local haunts for a beer or three.

The place I mentioned before that we go to after soccer we both discovered, being drawn in no small part to the fabulous large poster inside the door of a silhouette of a naked lady with another hand reaching out to pinch her breast. Cartoon style. Surrounded by a red circle and a diagonal cross similar to a no smoking sign. But in this case we thought it may be a "gentleman's club" of sorts, the sign being a deterrent to those ungentlemanly acts that may occur in such places.

Alas, no such luck however the staff and owners who are Korean-Chinese, an ethnic minority here, gave us such a warm welcome that it has become the spot of choice for after school drinks with Koreans and our western teachers alike. Anyway, with regular such sessions there with My mate. He has recently got a promotion to academic director of the school, a position that didn't exist previously and since many of us have been totally dismayed at the fact that the school had no academic direction we are all excited that he has got this job which will in turn give teachers good direction rather than nothing. Which the existing management have been forced to acknowledge did not exist in this area previously.

Getting back to the subject of free beer he's also been kind enough on a number of occasions recently to pick up the tab after extended hydration sessions. We have a great working relationship and we have shared many ideas so this has been a bit of a thank-you I guess for the support I've given him. He's also supported me immensely and together we have made some really positive changes. So I'm equally thankful to him however I'll have to be cunning in the future to ensure I pay my way!

There is another bar a few hundred meters from the school in another direction which is a dingy cave of a place but frequently a good spot to meet on a Friday night. Not totally free, but very cheap, at approximately $1 a stubbie. This generally means that upon entering said establishment you are quickly bought or buy a cheap round for/by the teachers there and can get happily refreshed for the night for around $10. Couple this to the fact that the bar is co-joined to a beauty salon next door, whose employees, not gainfully employed at the time often come in and say hello too.

About three weeks ago they threw a party there for all the foreign guests who have been coming there and the invitation read something like this:
"Welcome foreign friends. You are invited to a party with free beer, bbq and about 50 university girls."
Kid you not! That was what was on the invitation. Needless to say a fun filled night was had by all that attended. Finally, on Friday night just gone we had two barrels and a bbq put on at school for all the teachers and staff. This was lots of fun and my overall impression of the school and those that work there has improved considerably since the first couple of months which were diabolical.

So, first semester has finished and there has been some interesting bits and pieces going on at school since I last wrote. But mainly its just been busy, busy, busy butting heads at times but overall things are improving steadily. One major thing that I was immune to on Jeju was the office politics that goes on and since the teachers here in China, both Korean and western ones are a different breed to the general rule. Some of course being fantastic, however others seem to have come over here with their baggage full of spanners ready and willing to throw them in the works at any opportunity. Enough said really, however I have commented before about what a freak show the foreign teacher community can be.

Onwards and upwards. 6 weeks. What to do..? I have a few little jobs to do for myself but other than that not much other than what I said before. That being to get out and about a bit more and see a bit more about what this city and China has to offer. The Olympics are coming soon and Qingdao like all other host cities has undergone an amazing face lift. Other than the obvious "Green Algae Bloom" problem which you have no doubt heard about the city looks fantastic and the people are ready to welcome the games. The torch comes through here on the 25th of July and I'm looking forward to seeing the fanfare. Also I'm off to Tanjin to watch the Olympic soccer which was the only sport I could get tickets for. I may still go to Beijing to try my luck at the gate but as yet I have no concrete plans to do so.

Tomorrow, with luck I'm going to enroll in some Chinese language classes with another mate that I've been playing tennis with so that will hopefully give me something to do each day to get me out and about, plus I plan to visit the gym again as that is something I've dropped in recent weeks.

Overall things are great and I'm really looking forward to getting on top of a few things at home that i've neglected lately. Just been tooo busy.. This blog also is my first in a while and I regret not keeping it updated more regularly. I know I've said that for nearly all the posts for the last six months however It has been quite a ride and now it's time to cool my jets for a while.

All the best to you wherever you are reading from especially those friends and family back in Australia. I miss you all and hope the winter is as enjoyable as the summer here.. But I doubt it :) :)

2008-06-01T00:24:00.003+09:00

It's amazing how time flies and much has happened since May 13 which was the last time I hastily posted a blog.

Around the world there seems to be chaos and mayhem and especially here in China. The Sichuan earthquakes were massive and although the relief response has been and continues to be equally massive the trouble is not yet over. It seems now likely that several quake lakes that have swollen may burst and flood some big cities. The government are now set to evacuate over 1 million people downstream, so there is more drama to unfold yet.

On the school front I'm happy to say that after much wrangling I managed to get a relief appeal going at the school and together we raised nearly 10 thousand in five days which was pretty good and also I started a clothing drive which was well supported. Sadly the Korean management at the school haven't really got behind this and although many students and families gave generously many Koreans view their Chinese neighbors as second class citizens both covertly and overtly. From a sociological perspective it is interesting to witness first hand that even now in the year 2008 some races genuinely feel they are superior to another race. From a personal perspective it makes me feel sick and helpless to be surrounded by such ignorant prejudice.

Opportunities to hopefully "educate" the Koreans about this issue happen regularly and I have no qualms in pointing out quite colorfully to some of the bigots the error in their ways. The western teachers who I work with are all of a similar mind so there is always an issue or two simmering away. Other than that and also the management of the school, which are collectively the most useless bunch I've ever seen, continuing to find new and improved ways to annoy people, disrupt, mislead and generally fuck everything up. Apart from that school is going really well. I've got a fantastic rapport with all my kids and genuinely look forward to seeing them each day which is great.

After school I've been playing soccer every Thursday plus tennis twice a week. I haven't been to the gym for a few weeks but on average I get there once or twice a week too so overall I'm feeling fit and fresh.

Socially there has been a bit going on with a couple of bar nights and day trips in the past month or so, but mostly life in general is entertaining enough with a new sight, sound or experience occurring daily. Teachers day back on the 15th of May was pretty special though. It was just a half day at school in the morning and the afternoon off which is good enough. All classes were canceled however and the students of each class with the help of some mothers prepared special treats for all the teachers. Our job was to roam from classroom to classroom sampling food and just hanging out with the kids which was fun.

My homeroom class were fantastic and they all made me a card with a heartwarming letter inside plus an amazing array of chocolates, flowers, health drinks and also a stuffed toy puppy dog which is very cute. The parents too also gave me a nice card and a gift voucher from a local department store which kept Sarika happy the following day. All in all it was very touching and very gratifying to be honored and thanked for just doing my job. We also had a nice trip to the beach last week with the kids which was hell to organise but fun on the day. Here are some photos of my Teachers day flowers and apartment on the first slideshow and the second is the little darlings at the beach :)

Last weekend was cherry picking week out in the countryside. So Sarika, her classmates and myself spent a few hours picking and eating cherries at a local farm. It was good fun and together we all had lots of laughs.

The week before was entertaining, exhilarating and exciting too, as I attended my first (of hopefully many more!) international car show. Amazing, girls everywhere and more than one or two were genuinely pleased to be getting their photo taken by the tall, balding Australian with the slight limp. The cars however were still the star attraction and there were all the big names on display.

Thats about it really for a recap of the past few weeks. The weather's warming up and I'm going to check out the beaches in the next week or two so stay tuned.

Here's a couple more slideshows. The first is a teacher from school's birthday party and the second is Sarika and my trip to the park during the short and a little underwhelming (coming from Jeju-do) spring cherry blossom season.
Enjoy :)

May we live in interesting times...

2008-05-13T22:02:00.001+09:00

I've been meaning to post a blog for a while as I'm going well over here and I've plenty of stories to share from the past few weeks. However, recent events in China. Namely the devastating earthquake in the Sichuan province measuring a massive 7.8 on the Richter scale have sped things up and although i'm too busy to write in detail I just wanted to let all and sundry know that i'm fine and nowhere near any of the trouble. It's a sad situation but the China government here have mobilized a massive relief effort which should provide some help to those affected.

All the best,
Sammy

A taste of things to come

2008-03-22T22:49:00.005+09:00

Hi there,

Getting settled into the swing of things now. Whats the date... March 22... that means I have been here now for almost a month. Wow.

Finally, I have some time to catch my breath and summarise a few observations and experiences. Might as well start in the present and backtrack a bit.

Today was a strange day with a number of "1st" experiences which is usual. Sarika is starting a traditional Chinese medical treatment to detox herself from a couple of niggling ailments and as my body could do with a bit of a fresh start i've decided to join her in the process. This means first getting a blood test to ascertain my needs then a trip to the local traditional doctor for a look into my eyes etc after which he will issue me prescription of herbs, roots and spices that need to be boiled with water until the liquid has reduced down to a cupful or so- tastes really bad.

Anyway, this morning I found myself in a sparsely decorated hospital that had been recommended to Sarika, i'm sure not for any other reason than that it was a cost saver. Turns out it was a military hospital and to be honest, after seeing the facilities, I hope I don't get sick over here. It's probably then, a good idea that we are both doing this bit of maintenance and I must say that when she mentioned the whole idea to me I was interested for both health and curiosity reasons.

That done and feeling a little sluggish from the experience we were picked up by Sarika's new school friend Zin Zin, who was in the area and she happily deposited us to a massage room she knew. Zin Zin is really nice and I'm really happy Sarika has befriended her and is also beginning to mix socially with her other school friends as this has been a big move for her, probably more so than me. Breaking away from her home city, family and friends for the first time is difficult.

The massage places in China vary in quality, appearance, price and services more than I'd anticipated. I guess as It is a regular activity for many regardless of their wealth there are places for all budgets. From lavish salons that cater for 'all' tastes to beauty centers to retreat and relaxation centers where the massage is only part of the service. There are also many more economic services at street side shops equipped with only a couple of well worn armchairs and a foot stool. One such place just down the road employs only blind masseurs and they are quite a famous franchise of sorts throughout China. I'll visit them one day however today we went into a shabby but cleanish (nothing is clean here) shop with a floorspace big enough for two armchairs side by side plus three thinish massage tables similar in comfort level to those found in country league footy change rooms.

We were met by three well worn old blokes smoking cigarettes and wearing the uniform of the enlightened, equally well worn and cleanish, or should I say off-white dust coats. An hour later and feeling remarkably revived I paid the princely sum of $12 USD for both Sarika and me!
It turns out they aren't far from our home so I forked out the equivalent of $60 USD which will entitle us to ten more massages between us. The one today being gifted as service!

The next thing I did may (or may not) surprise you but I went into the skin care shop on our apartment complex for a facial. That's right... a facial and I feel much better for the experience. I feel compelled to justify this by saying that during my time in Korea its fairly standard to get a face massage and moisture and cleaning treatment as part of the service at many massage places. To be honest its probably my favourite part now.

I also found a nice coffee shop that serves real and varied coffee's, got a haircut and saw a street side brawl that involved about ten assailants before being dispersed by security. So as I said before a normal day, but full of '1st's'.

This week just gone was crazy. It started off normal enough however a week prior to this week just gone. In their infinite wisdom the school decided that they should have an overnight camp for 200 kids. They didn't know where or what they would do. But it was decreed from on high that in a weeks time the camp would take place. A weeks time, being Thursday and Friday just gone. It sounded like a failure from the get-go and armed with the knowledge of how everything else has been organised lately I avoided getting embroiled in it as much as possible.

Without going into to much detail ( i'm trying not to be too negative on this blog). 200 kids and about 15 teachers went to two rooms and a carpark at the foot of a mountain for two days and a night. It was terrible and I'm glad to get it over with. The only good thing to come out of it is that my kids were great and I feel really close to them now, although they hate getting their photo's taken. Must be the age I think.

I guess thats the reason for my desire to spring clean myself today with a massage, a facial, a haircut, a coffee and a streetfight!

As I mentioned in a previous post the Chinese new year celebration was spectacular. I edited a bit of the footage that I shot near the hotel on the 15th.

The link should be just below, but if not you can see it on my youtube page. Also my photo album has some new China photos of the camp as well as Qingdao and our apartment complex. enjoy!

I've got the net now Yaaay!!!

2008-03-09T23:08:00.005+09:00

Finally... It's Sunday night and i'm online.

Since arriving back in Qingdao last Thursday I haven't had the internet till now. I've got a wireless router connected and its very comfortable to lob on the couch with my note book and write so i'm very pleased with it.

Getting the connection was a bit of an ordeal but it's sorted now and i'm off and away. Just got my fix of local news and sport from the online tv and now I know I should write something profound in order to enlighten you all on my wellbeing etc etc.

In a nutshell physically fine but mentally dazed, confused and sometimes frazzled. Qingdao is great and in time I think i'll really enjoy the city as it offers a wide variety of everything and most things seem easily accessible. Language is a real barrier here as the locals don't really know any English and I don't know any Mandarin at all.

On the school front things are a mix of really good and problematic. Hot & cold really. The good part is that there are some nice and friendly teachers there and its been a real pleasure to mix socially with a few of them and speak English naturally. There's a couple of other Aussies who i've become quite close with as they too were new arrivals. Also there is one woman who has been here for years who is from Tasmania too. So we both have had a good laugh about that on a couple of occasions.

On the negative side the organisation of the school is very difficult to understand on its best days, and I feel like i've aged 100 years this week getting thrown into all kinds of temporary schedules and classes, completely unwarned and unprepared with nothing but a white board marker and my wits to go by.

The main frustration is that I'm experienced enough now in schools and teaching in general to know whats reasonable and whats not and it frustrates me a little bit when I see these strange situations that myself and the other teachers are placed in and I know deep down that it doesn't have to be this way and it takes the fun out of what should be a very enjoyable and stimulating experience as the kids are on the whole a great bunch.

On the homefront the apartment is great and Sarika has taken to provisioning our home with all possible accouterments. She starts school tomorrow so I hope she attacks that with the same level of zeal and enthusiasm. Hopefully this week will be less aging on all accounts.

Ah.. I nearly forgot. The school bus picks me up in the morning about 200 m from my apartment which is great. In fact I only discovered this per chance as I was down on the road about to hail a taxi when I saw the school bus pull up in order to pick up some students and on I got. A very lucky break which is convenient in the mornings.

A quick postcard from China

2008-02-17T23:03:00.005+09:00

Hello all and happy new year to you all. Apparently the year of the Rat is full of promise for us all and promises a happy and prosperous 2009 for anybody who wants to take a few risks or make significant changes in their life. So, it augers well for my new chapter in the far east.

I arrived here safely last Tuesday and together with Sarika we have managed to find a nice apartment, check out the school a couple of times and see a few more sights and sounds around Qingdao, our new home.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Sammyspics/QingdaoBitsNPieces

Here's a couple of photos from the past few days. It's still very cold but as the weather warms up it should be much nicer. Tomorrow is my first day at school and it's a fairly relaxed start with two days of training/orientation. Which I hope answers a few nagging questions.

I feel much more comfortable about things, mentally I suppose, now that I'm finally here and signed up for both my school and apartment. Sarika has been brilliant and she's managed to deal with the many and varied small details and dilemmas that occur repeatedly for me in a foreign country and also in general when finding a new place to live.

So, on the whole things are looking pretty good. All I need to do now is sign-off so I can get a good sleep in tonight.

Schae Chen :)

Death of an icon

2008-02-12T00:34:00.000+09:00

Anyone who visits Seoul no doubt has a similar photo. Here is one of me last year in front of Koreas No.1 Traditional Treasure- Namdaemun, East Gate. Built in the late 1300's

Sadly, last night a Soju fueled Ajoshi thought it would be better served as a campfire as he was feeling a little chilly.

Bad idea.

If you ever visit Seoul, you won't get the chance to repeat my performance. It's almost totally destroyed. No doubt it will be rebuilt, again, however it won't be the same.

Maybe the Koreans may question their "Drinking Culture...."

I hope so. In the sober light of day the '50 y/o taxi driver' who initially claimed he witnessed the arson actually admitted he himself started the fire in a drunken rage.

Silly boy and very, very sad for Koreans and all the rest of us.

tic toc tic toc...

2008-02-10T22:47:00.000+09:00

I'm waiting, I'm waiting this is irritating....

Seems to be the story of my life the past month or so. Not feeling down or anything these days but compared to the excitement of previous months and the anticipation of moving to China fairly soon to start another chapter, but having to bide my time through a cold Jeju winter is...to be honest very boring.

I have always maintained that only boring people get bored. Therefore, I know that my present melancholy is my own doing, but it still doesn't change the fact that I'm presently just marking days off the calendar with no real purpose. But that will soon change.

On in two days time I head off to China for another two week trip. Why just a trip? Well thats where the slowly moving cogs of Korean bureaucracy become complicit in my current mood and stagnation. You may also note that I'm using as many big words as I can in order to succinctly annunciate my current quagmire and additionally it may also help me pass the time and give me some moderate titillation...

The Korean bureaucracy is unlike any western organisation. To the untrained eye all seems fairly straight forward and similar. However, that would be where you are wrong. Once you crack the surface of any organisation, especially a government institution, the one in question being my local education department you would soon realise your naive mistake and consequently wonder how they ever get anything done?

I certainly have no broad criticisms of the education department perse now on reflection. However, there have been times where Kissinger himself would have needed more than a few prozac's in order to smile, nod and patiently take his leave, as I have done on more than a few occasions within the last month. Having said that, my exit circumstances are certainly better than I had hoped for and definitely superior to my last escape from Seoul, which was a pitiful experience, I'm sure for all parties concerned.

As with most teacup storms the catalyst for my issue (mistake in cross-cultural competence expectation) with the education department was that I wanted a straight answer to one simple question. That question being: Since I finish working, actual teaching on the 31st of January, but my contract expires on the 29th of February. Can I leave Korea in early February and still fulfill my contractual obligations and therefore receive my final months pay and severance bonus?

Put another way. Do I have to sit at home during February or can I be elsewhere? Simple question. Straight answer would be lovely, thank you and I'll be on my way. To be honest I figured it would be an each way bet. I just wanted to know one way or the other so I could either plan a quick exit and a new start in China or hang around here for the month. Either way I'm happy, I just want to know. Nooo nooo Sammy.... Silly boy.....

This may sound ridiculous but my education department is moderately progressive compared to other provinces. Their standing arrangement is for foreign teachers to report daily to empty schools and play solitaire for eight hours each day. If the school was a private organisation or slightly entrepreneurial students would be found from somewhere to fill my schedule. They ended up saying No. Which is completely their prerogative. Thats not what caused me to question their ability to do anything in this country. What did give me headaches was the time it took for them to give me an answer.

Sure, I understand that its not life or death or a priority and in hindsight, now I have my answer its hardly a blip on the radar. The reason for the long awaited answer was the layers and layers of approval required for this simple question to be addressed. Coupled to that was the fact that became steadily apparent that the lady supervisor was absolutely traumatised by the idea that she would need to seek approval from her older male superiors! To her relief after I realised this, I went around and sought approval from every man and their dog. Explaining the question and the circumstances in my best mix of pidgin English and broken Korean. Everyone said it was fine however after that she read the contract again and said: But Sam.. Your contract expires on the 29th of February. You need to stay until then.

Here lies another example of the woes of living in a heavily Confucian society combined with having to chase a wild goose at the behest of an incompetent dickhead. Confucian society, the bedrock of Korean culture and values is a complicated system thousands of years old. It is a uniting force for the Koreans and a part of their cultural identity. However, it can be difficult to navigate if you have a sole purpose or destination in mind. Impossible to navigate if you are being guided by an idiot.

So' I've had a leisurely lifestyle since the 31st of January and peace of mind since the 7th about my future. My attendance has also become very irregular at the breakfast table and I've been seen on more than a few occasions sheepishly and sleepily having lunch/breakfast with Emo at the crack of noon. My increased tardiness only fuels her paternal instincts and I can't help but love her more when she berates me.

Jeju is still in winters firm grip and getting out and about isn't much fun. I've had a few dinners and farewells to friends. Plus the Chinese new year was a highlight as I participated in the traditional family rituals and visits to other family members to pay respects etc. I find experiences like these a truly humbling and I'm constantly appreciative of the selfless generosity and genuine acceptance by my 2nd family. I will miss the very much, but I do think I'll come back to visit as time goes by.

Tomorrow I send of some of my belongings to China in advance plus some other odd jobs. Then Tuesday I go for two weeks. Return for three days at the end of the month, sign off on my contract. Then back to China for good. I can't wait. Especially to see Sarika again...

You know it makes sense... and...umm. yes. feeling a bit patriotic so enjoy the videos. HAPPY OZ DAY January 26th.

2008-01-27T21:38:00.000+09:00

Happy Oz day,
Ummm. yes I realised it as Oz day yesterday and I watched a bit of the cricket and It seems like punters puppies are making a meal out of squaring the series, let alone winning the series. Funny game cricket.

Ponting must have one of the toughest jobs and one of the thickest skins to match. No sooner did he inherit the team after waugh's winning run did his top four retire, and then with gilly on the way out, shame he had to drop that sitter in what seems to be the last game of the greatest wicket keeper/batsman the game has ever seen. hayden with his gammy leg and others are sure to follow soon.

Sure there is player's to fill the gaps but they must perform and win from day one otherwise the soothsayers promise all kinds of doom and gloom. Even when he does string the occasional win together (16) + wc he gets bollocked for the style or the dismal 20/20 tour de Tasman tour he missed for "family committments ...ugh.. hand me a violin. All the while he's averaging...god know's what! plus the same average strike rate as gilly, symons and hayden combined plus he led the fielding revolution with the likes of rhodes, richards et. al. Moreover if it wasn't for feckin mcgrath, warne, gilespie and lee hogging the ball and taking wickets at regular intervals his bowling figures would be akin to the likes of his predecessor or any other nude ball, pie chucker peddling their swill into the breeze up the hill when the game is set for a draw.

So, I say, yes.
He does believe 5"5" is plenty tall for a man. And yes, If I saw him in a Delhi night club I would probably finish my vb and throw the can at him before offering him my lamb chop via the same route and then I'd have no qualms at all about humming the first few bars of "god bless New Zealand" and immediately exchange all the 'i's in my vocabulary with 'e's while doing my best to impress my cousins mother.

But, if I had long hard public unfashionable thankless job with no chance of credibility and an infinite chance of failure no matter how well it was done. And the country depended upon it getting done i'd have no hesitation giving it to him! or 'scruple-less waugh' or 'skill-less shaw' or 'no-mates bradman' or 'if you say I have a girls voice I'll fuckin av ya' mathews or simpson (and no. I don't mean 'bowling ball head' Bob) of the 1st Turkey-i'm ashamed of the empire/draft dodging accused ambulance service, along with the simple advice of don't fuck it up!

The last time the job was given to a decent bloke who you'd have no problem inviting to your place for a cold beer and a lamb chop on Oz day (called Kim-and no. I don't mean that oac sportin, im an alpha-male but I have no/slo-mo right hook so I'll give you a squirrel grip, I wanna be maurie fields's lovechild on a bad hair day -smith) you would want to make sure you doubled your shares in Pfizzer and Kleenex well before lunch on the first day and had the super sopper and the channel 9 chopper ready to go.

The best place for him is at least 60 metres away from the nearest unprotected Australian armed with a stick of dubious size and substance. If he wins- we win. If he loses we relish in his humiliation and apportion equal measure of blame to the selectors, the prime minister, England, the umpires and anyone who still believes their text message actually makes a difference to who stays or goes this weekend on Australian Idol or Big brother. It's the Australian way.

So.. your soap avoiding, pot smoking, hippie, vegetarians may disagree with me. But they can get stuffed! They know the way to the airport and if they dont. I'll show them! So he message is clear Eat Lamb Chops on Australia Day

YouKnowItMakesSense!

I'm Sam Byrne.

Have been to China again and will be going back soon...

2008-01-17T22:25:00.000+09:00

But first.

I should fill you all in on the month that was December.
I thought it would be a relaxing time as winter cooled things off and school wound down, but due mainly to my need to find a decent job in China and a couple of trips away I was kept fairly and squarely on my toes.

On the home front things are still going great and Mongshidi proudly gave birth to six beautiful puppies. As you know I love puppies to bits so Uri house has been filled with plenty of puppy chatter and adventures lately. Much to the delight of Emo who has lost the company of Nana, as she recently moved to Seoul to take a job there.

So, I returned from Australia on the 4th and for the next week or so I emailed as many Chinese schools as I could. Mostly international schools as they are the only ones who pay anywhere near a reasonable wage. Not that you cant live comfortably in China on less than $1000 bucks a month + an apartment, which is the usual gig. But, i'm a qualified teacher, with experience and by now I should have the nouse to be able to find a relatively comparable contract to the one I've got now. After all, China's pretty bloody big and I keep hearing about their economy etc. etc.

Well, as each day dawned a new list of replies came back via email offering various forms of shite packaged in all sorts of glossy window dressing. But, I had cast a very big net. I reckon in the first 10 days back from Australia I had emailed, maybe 20 or 30 different schools each day, plus if you want a good laugh my resume and details are on any and all Chinese job boards I could find. Gotta love the internet and a fast connection!!

The trouble is that many don't give you salary information in the preliminary stages, or if they are recruiters, they often post a good job then offer you all sorts of other glossy packages of shite. The good-ol bait & switch technique perfected of course by our good mate, 'honest-John the car salesman's friend.'

Separating the wheat from the chaff is delicate but I can now spot a shyster at fifty paces so culling a few quickly is easy, however I did have to play the game with a few, just to see what they were willing to put on the table. Most international schools follow the American school year which put my search in the middle of their calendar. But, being reputable, forward thinking institutions they were recruiting for August/September starts. Also a little problematic was the fact that most didn't state this initially and therefore the game had to be played with them also to see what was what. I gradually refined my search using the options on offer plus other less scientific means.

I ended up with a good interview/formative offer from a Korean international school in Qingdao. Firstly, it's an international school catering to students who come from Korea, want to study Korean school curriculum and eventually want to get into Korean universities. Basically the same job as I'm doing now but in China with Korean students.

I knew I'd have the first two weeks of January off in the new year followed by two weeks of winter camp till the 31st then all of February off. Time was on my side so I wanted to interview by phone and visit the school, interview again then make a decision if a contract was offered. Also, as you have probably guessed I was very keen to see Sarika again as the time we have been separated has been torturous.

So, I had settled on a city and an interview. I then set about canvassing the other international schools in Qingdao. I got an instant reply from three of them. One turned out to be a dud offering the usual swill but two others showed promise and agreed readily to interview me in Qingdao while I was there.

By this stage it's mid December, I'm still teaching until the 28th and as for Koreans, Christmas day is only a one day public holiday. I have to get to Seoul for a weekend of merriment on the 21st, buy my tickets, sort my visa and generally get things sorted.

The Seoul weekend comes quickly and I get picked up at the airport by Hyunmok and she takes me to Jungeun's house. These are two ex students of mine who are sensational and they very kindly took me under their wings for the weekend. I was really heading to Seoul to catch up with Sunbong and check out his daughters wedding. I went there on the Saturday. Had a good look, got included in a couple of big group photo's said hello to him and his family, had some lunch and moved on.

Such is the style of Korean weddings. Lots of colour, family and fanfare, great food but far too quick for my liking but I made the best of the opportunity to catch up with Sunbong which was good. Seoul is very cold right now. Down to -13 overnight and while I was there it was just starting to turn from cold to very cold. I had a few hours to kill so I simply headed up the road and hired a dvd room for a few hours. Watched a couple of movies, killed some time and generally warmed myself up for a night out with the girls.

It was a good thing I did as the night out was one of the best nights out that I've ever had. By nights out I mean dinner drinks and then hitting the clubs till late. I anticipated doing dinner, drinks then an hour maybe two, tops at a night club. Then lobbing into a random hotel for the remainder.

How wrong I was! Jungeun was in fine spirits and also she had arranged to meet six of her other equally...um..talented friends either for dinner or at the club that they had booked a cool booth for us to drink, eat and generally lounge about during spells from the dance floor. Hugh Heffner would have been proud of me and I couldn't wipe the smile of my face all night. Although I did play a straight bat all night. It was the same club that Paris Hilton herself had partied at just a few days before!!

As usual I did pike a bit earlier than the others but for me 5am is pretty good and also they were beginning to separate and doze off randomly so I headed out into the world again. Finding a hotel in my area was too much for my gray matter to handle at this hour and in my condition. So, as this was Korea. The land of the ubiquitous use of the word ubiquitous and also 24hr saunas. I took myself off to one and quickly put myself to sleep in the corner of one or their big communal warm rooms.

10 am, awake, hot tub, shower, Macdonald's. I caught up with the girls eventually and Hyunmok and Jungeun kindly drove me to the airport for my afternoon flight. As it happened Nana was on my plane back to Jeju too, as she had been interviewing for jobs in Seoul at that time too. Picked up by Emo at the Jeju airport, driven home fed and into bed. What a great weekend!! I bought the usual coming home gifts for everybody. Something useful and hillarious for Emo, a pair of ridiculous looking large panda bear slippers for those cold nights. Something equally useful for Sumtune, an Olympics cap and Perudi got a "carton" of Chinese cigarettes that set me back $5 at duty free on the way home. Sorry Nana.. you miss out this time!! (The little kid in the photos is Ji Soo, Jungeuns second boy and he and his older brother are still very cute)

I didn't realise before but I must have really needed a night out, away from Jeju and let my hair down after the past year of self control and constant concentration. It was great fun and I hope to go that way again before I go to China, just to have dinner and share a few laughs again with those girls as they were awesome.

Christmas comes and goes in Korea with little fanfare. It does warrant a public holiday but very few celebrate it as we do. This is kind of good as you don't get homesick or envious of others as you might if you were in another western country.

Now to China. I arrive on new years day in Beijing and Sarika met me at the airport. We had four sensational, full days exploring Beijing. We had some great food and visited many different places such as Tianamen Square, the forbidden city and the great wall. We then caught a train to Qingdao and I had my interviews. All successful and I had three solid offers to consider. After reading the fine print it became fairly obvious where I should go and I eventually accepted the offer from KISQ The Korean International School of Qingdao.

Qingdao is a city of 1.6 million on the mid north east coast of China. Its about halfway between Beijing and Shanghai and its a famous port city. It has six very decent beaches and it has a fairly large mountain range in the background. Famous fresh air, nice multicultural atmosphere with plenty of westerners, Japanese and Koreans everywhere, great old German architecture from the days of occupation and finally like all great cities.. Chinas most popular brewery Tsingdao Brewery. So it has it all. Plus it will host the sailing events for the Olympics so I'm all set to support the Aussie tilt!

Now, once again I'm still playing the waiting game although the main pieces are solidly in place. I need to find out when I can actually leave Korea and start in Qingdao. My contract is up on the 29th of February but I finish all my teaching on the 31st of January. February is not technically holidays its just that there are no kids to teach as they are away. I'm in a bit of limbo but all will be revealed to me next Monday as I have a meeting scheduled with the education department to finalize my exit details. I have a couple of bonuses at stake. About $3500 in completion bonuses and an international flight to collect. So I can't just take off just yet...

The waiting saga continues. But 2008 has got off to a very, very good start and I'm happy Sarika and I will soon be together again. Stay tuned!!

Ooops I've missed a month.

2007-12-06T20:33:00.000+09:00

Where does the time go? I always say to myself that if I don't post here for a wile it's because I've been busy. But if I cant manage to post each month it's probably a warning sign that I've been trying to do too much and I need to sit back and smell the roses. Thats probably something I need to do this month.

I just got back from a quick trip to Australia for Alice's wedding and although it was fantastic for many reasons. Today I'm completely spent and need to recharge. The main priority in my life right now is trying to get a job in China for next year. Sarika and I want to give things a go seriously so that means setting up shop together somewhere.

The easiest way appears to be for me to go to China. That shouldn't be a problem in principle but I don't want to go there and earn $500 bucks a month. It does concern me that I'm weighing up true love and a pay packet but I have for the first time in my life began to get ahead financially and it would be a pain to start going backward again.

Things would be different if she could come here but Korean immigration is so strict on Chinese it's not funny. Suffice it to say I've been busy trying to swing things at immigration over here but for every possibility there is a small but inescapable stumbling block. Age, nationality, money, sponsorship etc etc. So I'm just getting myself mentally prepared for the Chinese challenge ahead. Time ticks by quickly so I need to clear my schedule for a while and get down to business. It's very do-able but it wont just do itself or I'll end up in a shitty gig which as you know I've done once before.

So December is going to be quiet. All I'll be doing is pestering the hell out of schools to give me a job. Simple ehh.
That's enough for my to-do-list. Get a job and move to China in March.

October and November have been great. School has really wound down now and I have a reduced load as the third year students have left. They had their College Entrance Exam on the 15th of November and a few day trips since then. I went one one to Songaksan which was nice and if you want a surprise download the video I shot of the kids going to the exam... It has to be seen to be believed.

On the home front things are great still, the family here are just beautiful. There is a naive charm with Koreans and Emo, Sumtune and co are no exception. I've learned a lot from living so near to them this year and I will be very sad to leave them. We went up Mt Halla a few weeks ago which was quite a trek and quite pretty as it's Autumn and the leaves had changed colour. Also the sky lately has been spectacular, be it clouds, sunrises or sunsets every day it produces something special.

Mongshdi (the dog) has been tarting around again and the day after I left for Australia she gave birth to 5 beautiful babies. There eyes are still closed at the moment but as you can imagine they are very very cute. I'm sure they will feature in my photo's soon.

So... Australia. I left Jeju on Thursday morning and went to Sydney via Incheon and Tokyo where I had the worst massage in my life. The flight was perfect however, all the way in "claytons" first class-on an exit row with tons of leg room. Its the best kept secret for long distance travel. Also on the way over the JAL hostesses sang me a very cute Japanese happy birthday and gave me a small present.

Into Sydney and I had 7 hours to kill until my flight to Hobart. I've never been to Sydney before so I had in my head that if I had the energy I'd slip into town for a while and check out the place. I took the train straight from the airport to Circular Quay and saw the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge which are truly impressive. I felt very Australian there as I sipped a coffee and chowed down on my $38 dollar a shot salmon bruchetta at Doyles restaurant, watching boats of all shapes and sizes cruise past. It was also nice to be in 27 degrees and escape the Korean winter for a while.

Into Tasmania and everything went like clockwork. I had dinner and breakfast with mum and dad, said g'day to Alice and Rich and also met my beautiful niece and nephew. Natalia and Marcel. Natalia is super cute and quite a character and Marcel is only about 2 weeks old so he is very small, cute and still smells of soap. I love baby smell, you know the soapy smell...
So that was a highlight early on Saturday.

Saturday afternoon the real fun and games began with Alice and Rich tying the knot in the gardens adjacent to the Cascade factory. It was a great day and night and I managed to catch up with all the family in the one place.

Then it was Sunday and I had to pack my kit up and head home. Most people were the same too but has less distance to travel than me. Mum was off to Melbourne and her and my auntie ended up on the same flight. Alice and Rich are presently in Singapore... I think but will be all over the world soon. Sunday afternoon mum and I took a drive up Mt Wellington to have a look down on Hobart. Then it was over. And now I'm back in chilly Jeju. The welcome back was very warm though, with Emo picking me up from the airport and having dinner and playing santa with the family. I bought them all a nick-nack which was pretty nice and they love surprises. I have a reputation for buying good, not necessarily expensive but appropriately useful/humourous presents and these were no exception.

I even bout the principal at school a bottle of plonk from Japan as if it wasn't for him I would have been unable to go. He was very surprised and grateful. Also the politician in me knows how to grease the wheels for a good reference when the time comes to move on which it seems will be quite soon.

Thats about it for now and i'll keep you posted on the job front. Cheers!!

Autumn is here

2007-10-27T23:10:00.000+09:00

Yes, it's started to cool off a little which is a pleasant change from the hot and humid summer. It is currently getting down to about 12 degrees overnight and up to 20 during the day which is pretty comfortable all round.

September was a hard month to follow and so far October has been pretty uneventful which is fine. These days I'm constantly thinking about a certain "miss china" and trying to concoct a plan where she can come over here or me go over to china into a decent job. Going to china is easy but finding a decent job over there is almost impossible. Getting her over here is a bit difficult because of Korea's immigration laws. Anyway, I'm sure things will sort themselves out in time.

On the school front things have been cruising along nicely. The newspaper people have been in my classroom again and last week i had speaking tests with all my students so things have been pretty busy.

Outside school theres been a foreign teachers festival which I had to attend on behalf of the school and last weekend was the 'Hwabuk Village Festival' which I gladly attended with the Ooudi family.

Basically it was a glorified sports carnival for adults. I used to live for sports days when I went to school so it was nice to participate in this one as a local representative of my little village. I've since learned that 'Hwabuk', my suburb is broken up into six smaller villages and each village has its own clubhouse similar to the clubrooms of a small country town bowls club.

Anyway I was drafted into the soccer team and what I thought would be a motley rag tag outfit of players turned out to be a fairly serious team with great skills and a very competitive attitude. As I have consistently said in previous posts, Koreans never do anything by half and this was no exception. Our team had their game face on but so did the other teams. It was a knockout tournament with each game played with 25 minute halves.

We lasted three games before being relegated to the stands. The first game kicking off at 8am. All the time the soccer games were taking place other games were being played by various teams for points for their village. The oldies played 'yout norli' something simmilar to 'two-up' but played with four small sticks thrown into the air. The older ladies including Emo, were all occupied in each village tent area cooking up an endless supply of fine food for all the players and an endless supply of soju and mekju to other village gents who were less interested in physical exertions.

I also was recruited into the mens volleyball team and now realising we were playing for the Korean equivalent of a sheep station, I decided to bring my "A"game. This went down very well with my team and the supporting locals who followed every bit of play with interest. We ended up winning the volleyball tournament and I was thanked profusely by all and sundry for my contribution.

This was doubly pleasant, as I failed to trouble the scorers during our soccer matches and to be honest, I felt a little out of my depth with the standard of play going on around me on the soccer field. So, I finished the day on a winning note albeit very sore from a tumble or two on the gravel soccer field and my forearms will never be the same after the tug'o'war. There was also a three legged race where participants were unceremoniously splashed with flour on completion of the run.

Overall it was a great day and it was lots of fun playing soccer with Sumtune and Perudi, letting Emo fuss over me and introduce me to her lady friends who she no doubt has told many stories about me and finally it was great to meet some more of the locals and get the invite back to next years event. Which, if I'm here, which I doubt, but if I am I'll definitely do it again.

My camera ran out of batteries early in the day so I only have a couple of pictures to share. But I'll definitely have a scar on my knee from where I hit the gravel going for a wonder strike deep into extra time.

On a somber note Sandy, the other Sehwa HS teacher from 1st semester was involved in a big traffic accident yesterday. She was travelling on the Songsan HS bus when they were hit at full pace in the side at an intersection by a truck. "somebody" didn't stop for the red light....(but this is normal here) and both weren't looking to see what was coming(also normal). The bus was hit in the side and both the bus and truck crashed into oncoming cars coming the other way.

two other cars were hit and 3 people died. The bus was full of students going to school. The same bus I used to catch for the first month I was here on Jeju. No students were hurt badly, however the bus driver fled the scene but was picked up shortly after and the word is that he was charged with DUI, although at the moment he's saying he fled the scene and then got drunk. Whatever, its a sad and sorry tale, but inevitable on Korean roads because all Korean drivers that I have traveled with are are complete nutters behind the wheel. I guess driving taps into their deeply ingrained competitiveness and coupled to their overall inexperience and ignorance. These kinds of accidents happen far too frequently over here. Here's some photos from the local paper
http://www.jemin.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=186090

Sandy's fine but she was coming to terms with what happened today and we went out to visit the site as she couldn't put the matter behind her until she had an idea what happened and why. She's fine today but us foreigners stick together in troubled times and I was happy to help out.

By the way last night was PK's birthday and he and a few others invited me out. We drank heaps and today I'm still wondering if I've done permanent damage... Not really, just hung over. But I don't drink much these days so I notice it if i'm not 100%.

Could also be the half a dozen cigarettes I had. I don't know if I've mentioned it before or not but since I've come back from China I've stopped smoking. Which so far has been quite easy. Although I know from the past experience I can pick it up very easily if i'm not careful...

I knew September was going to be a good month... but I didn't expect it to be this good!!!

2007-10-01T22:58:00.000+09:00

I'm on cloud nine!

Since last post I've been in a TV show. Which screens nationally on KBS1, the most popular Korean station at 7pm this Saturday night-prime time!!!

I only had a small cameo but I'm very excited to debut nationally on the small screen.

On the 17th of September Jeju got hit by the mother of all typhoons. Typhoon Nari dumped 590mm on my little island in about 4 hours!! Winds were up to 190km/h. Very exciting!!!

And.... wait for it!!!
best of all...
i went to Guangzhou,China (third largest city behind Beijing & Shanghai, 6 million pop. Near the border with Hong Kong) from the 22nd to the 29th.

I had the most fantastic time.

I stayed with a very shy, elegant and conservative Chinese lady I met a couple of months ago in Jeju. Her name is Sarika and I want to go back and stay with her forever!!!

big news ehh :)!!!

by the way I nearly forgot... i did another bungee jump.

bye:)

Little Alice has been on my little island

2007-09-14T22:57:00.000+09:00

Two weeks ago Alice came over to South Korea to meet her natural korean mum and dad. The experience for her was a fantastic one and also an unexpected chance for us to meet up in Jeju.
Her stay was short and sweet, in on Friday and out again on Sunday but during that time she got the chance to experience a thing or two on my little island.

On the Friday night they arrived and were given the red carpet treatment by the Ooudi family and both Richie and Alice quickly learned why I feel so at home here and how a good sense of humor and an open mind can dissolve any possible cultural differences.

On the Saturday we decided to take a little tour. First stop was Humdok beach for a dip, then... as I had promised some students earlier in the week we dropped in on the teachers and a class of girls at Sehwa, all busy studying. But not for long.....

They gave Alice and Richie the rock star treatment and for a moment, I thought we might need a police escort outside, after word spread down the corridors about the new visitors. All the students came out to say goodbye much to the dismay of the head teacher who no doubt had to extricate himself from his chair for a torturous minute or two to restore some order. He he... he'll get over it I thought... and thankfully he has.

I'd like to say Alice was the star of the show, because it was my intention really, to give her a glimpse of the Korean high school life she missed out on. But the main attraction was Richie, at nearly 6ft 4" the boys were impressed and the girls more so. I think Alice was happy she did her schooling in Australia after her visit.

After Sehwa we went up the road to Seongsan. In particular Ilchulbong or the English version Sunrise Peak. The photos tell the story really. It was a beautiful day, we had a bit of lunch before we went up. It probably took us two hours total, up and down and well worth it.

Its called sunrise peak due to being the first viewing point on the island to see the sunrise and also I guess pretty spectacular to watch the sunrise from behind with its peak in the foreground.
I'd never been there before and the view was spectacular.

From there we continued onto Jeongbang Waterfall. Once again, fairly impressive and also my first visit. It wasn't as "pretty" as other waterfalls on the island, but easily the biggest and it drops directly into the ocean (at high tide I presume), the only place in Asia to do so.

We also saw some Henyong women divers, plying their trade and all sorts of other people were out and about soaking up the sights. Some... were wearing slightly inappropriate, however very attractive footwear for the journey to the waterfall. You will have to see the photo's to understand and boy's, you won't be disappointed.

On our way back from the waterfall which was near Seogipo, on the Southern part of the island we traveled over Halla Mountain through some spectacular tree lined roads.

From this point on we were only interested in food, drink and festivities and after a couple of false starts had a great night out in Jeju city.

The next day sadly was just goodbyes, but i'm still feeling so happy that Alice met her korean parents, visited me and experienced a snapshot of my life over here. I have a bundle of photos to share and a video so click away, make a coffee and enjoy.

The Charmed life Continues

2007-09-01T20:26:00.000+09:00

Well its September already and how time flies. The last few weeks have been quite memorable for a number of reasons but the month ahead promises to be even more memorable for reasons I'll tell you about soon.

Firstly a bit of a recap.
The last time I wrote the heat was beginning to sap my energy to the core no matter how much I wanted to put a positive spin on it. First it was hot and rainy, then it was just hot, with no reprieve in sight as Ooudi house doesn't have air con and the ones at school don't really make much of an impact with them getting switched off and on all the time to save power and the doors and windows are all open along the corridors etc etc, so theres more than the usual amount of hot air in my classrooms and about the school.

The good news came the night of the lunar eclipse which happened three or four days ago. I'm pretty sure you guys saw it in Australia too. Well, along with the bit of lunar activity it also brought the cool change that Sumtune promised we'd get 13 days ago. He was out by about 24 hours! Which I think is quite a good long-range forecast for a guy who makes his living driving a taxi. But also he is Korean and as I have said in the past they all have an uncanny weather forecasting ability

Since then the temp overnight has got down to about 26 degrees which is blissful and during the day its only been 28, which I've now decided is my favourite temperature. So with my energy levels recharged things have been a bit more comfortable here lately.

On a different topic, I've started and finished my beginners scuba diving license. Something I've never really considered, nor had the desire to do previously. However the summer vacation, which consisted of a grand total of five working days-off was upon me and I really had no idea how to spend the time. So it seemed a good idea at the time and looking back now I'm very pleased with my decision as it has opened up a new leisure opportunity here on Jeju and other places, as well as meeting some really good, friendly folks both native and foreign.

The culmination of my course was a trip to the southern side of the island to a city called Seogipo and a boat ride to a nearby island called Bumsum-do which literally means Tiger Island. It's the diving spot that many divers here talk about and my two trips down in the depths were very spectacular with schools of tropical fish and other colourful tropical sea-life to look at. We went down to a depth of 24 meters which to this date is my deepest dive. The max I can safely do is 30 meters with my current license, however I don't really have any desire to go any deeper so I'm fine with what I've got for what I want to do. Most, if not all dive points here are accessible at that depth.

The water temp on the surface was a balmy 29 degrees, and at 24 meters it had only dropped a couple of degrees, so other than for my protection from the heavy diving gear, the rocks and poisonous stuff there was no need for a wetsuit. It was a great day last Sunday and I had the chance to take a few pictures which was good for the memory banks. This weekend was stormy but I went out again with a couple of other experienced divers but the visibility was so poor at 10 meters that we had to navigate by compass only, which was a new experience for me but after 25 minutes down below we decided to pack it in for the day.

Anyway heres a little video compilation of my diving trip for you to soak up while you wrestle with the winter chills you all are no doubt enjoying. Bon appetit!

If you just want to have a squiz at the photos here they are. Double click on the slide show and you will be taken to my online album.

On the school front, second semester is in full swing and as per usual its dished up more than its fair share of surprises and I'm only two weeks in.

On my return from vacation I was informed that a new English teacher would be starting on September the 3rd which is tomorrow. And he, a Canadian, late 40's, married to a Korean and Jeju resident for the past 9 years, named Michael is replacing Sandy who had had enough of Sehwa for various reasons and has moved on to 3 different schools further up the island. In addition to Sandy leaving another long-serving Korean English teacher got a promotion and switched to another school during the break so we had an English faculty meeting/pissup on the Wednesday of the first week and a formal farewell meeting/larger pissup on the Friday of the first week.

Both were good events and I stayed out of harms way on the first night but had a very messy one on the Friday night which took some recovering from. What I haven't mentioned yet was that another thing I was informed of on my return on the first Monday was that in four days time on the Thursday I would have MBC television cameras, a Seoul government station i think, in my class for a whole hour! 'Sometime in the afternoon...'

As it turned out the students I had during the filming were one of my favourites and they performed admirably, joined in at all the appropriate moments and laughed at almost all of my lame jokes. To make matters worse I had a full schedule of 7 classes each day Thursday and Friday for reasons I'm yet to fathom. Hence by Friday night, dinner and a few drinks with the other teachers I was ready to party and myself P.k. and a couple of his visiting friends from Seoul did our best job we could at the various watering holes we occupied.

Last week was relatively normal by comparison, however they are doing a bit of creative accounting with my hours which I'm keeping tabs on closely, but I'm hesitant to say anything yet, until they approve my holiday leave for Alice's wedding in December ( only 4 days..) and an extra two days I've requested to tack on to the Chusok (Korean thanksgiving) break which will occur at the end of this month. That will give me six days off at the end of September which I've decided to use to get to Beijing for a look, I have my fingers crossed at the moment that I can get a visa and flights to suit me at such short notice.

Speaking of Alice, as I'm writing she should have just arrived in Seoul for a short stay to meet her biological family for the first time. It's a very exciting and emotional experience for her and although I can't be with her in Seoul to share it with her, I'm only a phone call and an hour's flight away if she needs me and she knows this. On Friday her and Rich will come to Jeju for the weekend before heading back to oz on Sunday.

So, number one it's amazing to be over here while she is, doing what she is doing, and two I'm very much looking forward to seeing her and Rich and hopefully if she has the energy after her experience in Seoul, show her a peep into my world over here and of course introduce her to her second Korean family at Ooudi house who, against all my protests are most probably going to lay the red carpet out for her, which makes me feel all warm and giggly inside!! But, from experience I know Koreans don't do anything by halves so the welcome will be intoxicating and they both will have trouble leaving.

Now two more things before I wrap things up for another edition. A KBS quiz game show called 'Golden Bell' is coming to Sehwa next week and I have been roped into a cameo role of some description. Information is sketchy but I think I'll be called upon to ask some questions in English... Stay tuned.

Secondly, today was a memorable occasion as I joined the men of the family for their annual pilgrimage to the family grave site which has many large burial mounds belonging to their ancestors. Each year the grass is allowed free reign and each year the men bust their guts for one day cleaning it up. Today was that day for the Ooudi men and as they have been so kind to welcome me into the fold I felt happy and honoured to participate in this work. It also was a unique cultural experience to witness and participate in, first hand.

It was an early start, 6am and not being the worlds best morning person it took me a while to rise to the occasion. But after a few minutes we all settled into an easy rhythm with our jobs and gradually the place was changed from a grassy jungle to a respectable family memorial site. Once the cleanup was complete, a small ceremony was conducted at each grave and although I felt a bit awkward during this time and also I felt I was imposing a little by simply being there for this, I was actually encouraged by the grandfather and Sumtune's older brother to participate.

Not possessing a religious bone in my body I instantly thought that if I did this I would be disrespecting their beliefs and be a bit f a phony, but, I almost always do anything once and joined in with the ceremony at a respectful distance. Although not religious, I did find the experience quite calming and I used the whole opportunity to thank whoever, whatever or how ever I ended up here on Jeju, befriending this wonderful, kind family and everything else that has gone my way since my arrival here.

All I need now is for that good luck to continue by way of Alice having a good time in Seoul and a safe trip to and from Jeju, My vacation days to get approved and finally no funniest home video moments during my appearance on the golden bell.

Sunday August the 12th, How Time Flies!!

2007-08-12T19:13:00.000+09:00

Well its a lovely Sunday night here in paradise. The rain has taken a break for a minute or two to recharge and I have nothing on the cards tonight so its a good reason to put pen to paper, so to speak and resume my random ramblings about life here in Jeju. Also known as paradise.

Recently I have come to the realisation that I am leading a charmed existence over here. Everything seems to be going well and usually I wouldn't tempt fate by mentioning it but at the moment i'm on clover. I guess looking forward I should feel good too, because I have a short break, 9 days total away from work. for the summer vacation.

Having said all that the past month or so hasn't been without it's challenges but overall the mix has been well and truly on the positive side. What's happened then? I guess you might say. And I say, where to start?

The beginning is always good I suppose. I'll give that a try.
Shortly after I arrived in Jeju I decided to visit the dentist to get my teeth fixed. I had one on either side that had been neglected for as long as I remember and they both resembled fairly large volcanoes and although not painful. They probably were beyond that...and after 30 years of faithful service it was time for some t.l.c. for them both. My last vis it to the dentist was when I was 18!!!

So along with Nana, I went to the "Chiqua"and now probably about 8 visits later they are finished, all cleaned within an inch of their life and after the idea was put in my head by the lovely dentist, best of all... guess what????

I've got a new smile!!!! Thats right, no more gaps! And I love it!

The idea took me completely by surprise. Ive never liked my gaps, but being a boy I suppose and also a bit lazy where my teeth were concerned never really thought about getting them fixed. I always thought about getting them fixed but always imagined the process to be long painful and expensive.

It was neither, It took an hour and a half to get my four front teeth remodeled and at only 5o bucks a tooth not expensive at all! Ive got a bad case of hat-hair and sleepy eyes at the moment so i'm not taking a photo yet to show you but let me tell you it's a remarkable improvement and as you probably noticed reading this so far i'm feeling a little bit pleased with myself:)))

So thats one story. The next one too is on the health front, so to speak. Not nearly as glamorous but equally as fulfilling. Since I was about 16 I've always suffered from horrible heat rashes in summer. And all the gp's and specialists in Tas had no idea. They tried various remedies with no effect. So, lately, true to form, the weathers begun to heat up a bit and combined with 90% humidity at times it once again came out in full force.

This was quite predictable for me however i'd recently noticed a flash looking skin clinic opposite the cinema in town and I thought to myself i'd give it another try to fix myself up. Well one 5 minute visit and $3 for the consultation and $7 for some pills & paste and 1week later i'm as clear as a bell. I can't believe the change. I don't feel uncomfortable at all in the heat or feel like a leper when it flares up. Its fantastic, i'm a new man!!

On the downside, Emo's delicious cooking is beginning to take effect on my waistline, a subject i'll have to remedy soon by a bit more exercise. And also my attempts to quit or at least reduce my recently taken up habit of smoking is being severely tested by the evening chat sessions with Sumtune and Perudi that occurs most nights outside after dinner on the patio over cups of iced coffee.

Very relaxing and very civilized indeed but no good at all for my current non existent training regimen. Of course it could be worse on the body. Anywhere else in Korea the booze would be flowing thick and fast and in the current heatwave theres not much else to do. So I am lucky Sumtune rarely drinks, which is very much against the grain for Korean men. It suits me, its nice not to have another bad habit to deal with, I collect enough of them myself without any help.

I should mention the weather. It's the middle of summer and I won't complain about the heat because those of you reading this back home are probably fighting off coughs and colds due to cold weather.

So the facts are:
Ooudi house doesn't have air conditioning, but its by the sea and has many big open windows. Sehwa high school has air conditioning in each classroom but this is rationed by the school and the other areas, corridors, lunchrooms etc only have fans and/or windows.
So, since I last posted it started raining....and raining. I won't exaggerate theres probably been about 10 fine days this past month. By that I mean no rain and the rest has been a deluge. Jeju being all molten lava from Halla mountain is very porous and acts like a giant sponge. Theres rarely a puddle a few hours after a big rain. So in a nut shell the temp has fluctuated between 30-32 during the day and according to the forecasters it drops down to 28 overnight. So i've had my fair share of cold showers lately. As I said before I wont complain because its really not that bad its just with no respite in the evenings it eventually saps away at your energy and i've constantly got a lather up at rest and when I do exert myself even minimally I find i'm quickly soaked.
So... welcome to the tropics ehh...

On a brighter note Sumtune made the bold statement last night that the heat would last another 13 days. I took this information very seriously because in the past I have been amazed at the accuracy of all Koreans where the weather is concerned. I remember my first experiences last year with the psychic ability of everyday Koreans to predict the weather changes, longrange and with complete accuracy. So 13 days it is. Not a bit over a week or 10 days or two weeks. But 13 days. We'll see...

On the home front, things are going like clockwork too. I've changed rooms and this time I have a large private balcony, park and uninterrupted sea views. Right now I can look out and see about 20 shrimp boats in the distance all brightly lit up. It's like a magical fairyland. I wonder what the mozzies are like out there... Other than that it's been pretty tame here at home. Plenty of random giggles but nothing major happening.

At school things have been hectic. I think last post i'd been busy testing all the students and finishing up their first semester results. When the semester finished and the "phony" summer vacation started I went on a trip to the mainland with all the teachers. Well most of them anyway, there was about 50 of us. We left on a Saturday and came back on the Tuesday. It was a really good trip. Fun mostly, strange at other times but most of all enjoyable and a good chance for me to get to know some other teachers i'd not really met before.

Our first stop was to visit another high school and tour their facilities. I thought strange at first but although nobody mentioned it and I didn't ask I suspect it was some kind of justification for the trip if or when the school got audited as I paid a total of $100 bucks for the trip and the school picked up the rest which I think was about an extra $250 per person which combined is a lot of do-re-mi to scrounge off petty cash.

So we looked at the school for an hour or so after our arrival and from then we were off to a restaurant for lunch a museum, park and a temple for a bit of a look. That night there was a festival of sorts in town and we went there for a while and then returned back to where we were staying for the night. To my surprise it was a jimjilbung or sauna house. Very different but i got into my birthday suit and joined my fellow romans whilst in rome!!

I went to sleep quite refreshed afterwards and slept soundly in the knowledge that my fishing equipment was capable of reeling in the big fish. Either that or the Korean men had disconnected their rods prior to entering the sauna and sowed theirs safely in their lockers, ready for reattachment after. Regardless, my Korean experience still on track now that i've tried the national pass time of getting drunk then nuding up in a sauna.

The next day was mountain climbing day and it didn't disappoint.
Most of the teachers chose an easy route but myself and a few hardier types tackled the peaks. Three in total. The climb was quite steep and the heat was relentless. I was completely soaked but the views were spectacular and on the way up and down the track winded alongside mountain streams and waterfalls which I must admit are one of my very favourite things in nature.

I have many pictures to show you and they will tell the story. On the downside, i'm probably getting old... but i'll say it any way...
The latest "fad" in Korea is to turn your tiny little mobile phone into a ghetto blaster. Minus,minus, minus the sound quality of your average garden variety ghetto blaster. I've no problem with others listening to music on their headphones, in fact I often do it myself. But... I draw the line at playing the latest mobile-stream K-pop songs at high volume on tinny sounding mobile phones strapped to my hip!! Phew... I feel much better now i've got that off my chest...

I can tolerate the freakin whiny sound down the street or even on the bus. But at 2000m and a spectacular panoramic view complete with fresh air and the fragrance of nature. Pleeeese turn that shit off. Or I just might push you off the edge!!!

I feel good now anyways after a return trip lasting 7 hours I felt exhausted but exhilirated it was the highlight of the journey for me.
The highlight however for the many "Ajoshi's"( middle-aged Korean men) on the trip was the constant stream of alcohol and late nights playing card games for very high stakes. Most men had a float of at least $500 for the trip and some men finished walking a lot taller than they started as "the ajoshi" in the wild amongst his peers is a highly competitive creature and lacks the fortitude to recognise a losing streak until it is completely signed and sealed. For this reason one or two Ajoshis did very well and the remainders were left to lick their wounds.

Ajoshi's, They are the patriarch of this society which is based on a heirachy system composed by the great sage himself, Confucius. However, with age doesn't always come maturity and wisdom and everyday I see this in evidence. On a very positive note though, there is a hint of meritocracy evident too, and most of the school leaders at Sehwa, I'm pleased to say are good men indeed. Albeit not equipped for big game fishing....

So, that was about two weeks ago and since then I went back, teaching at school on the Thursday.
This time I was teaching a summer vacation program. 15 students for four hours every day for two weeks and two days. No Saturday or Sunday of course. The bad news was I had no idea what to do with this crew each day and no guidance from the bloke in charge. The good news though was that the kids were absolute charmers and we had a great time from start to finish. It was exhausting but fun.

So this weekend just gone with the rain falling I just hung out at home. I'm not sure what to do during my weeks break... There's a scuba course happening in Seogipo I might join. I need to get wet and the exercise will be good.

Long time no speak!!

2007-07-14T21:19:00.000+09:00

I'm happy to report all's well here in the land of matching pink tracksuits, Hyaundais and high pants.

Mongshidi said goodbye to her babies yesterday and here's a little vid to show you.

I'm sure they will all end up in good homes as there are no stray dogs at all in Korea. The Koreans are famous for their love for four legged canine's and I find this thought nourishing.

Personally, I've been fishing a little bit and have had a couple of dates with two eligible eligible young bachelorettes. So far so good there. As I said before at Ooudi House the puppies have gone to market so things are a little quieter about the place. A couple of weeks ago Emo's younger sister and her family came over from Las Vegas and stayed for a while. They hadn't visited for nearly fifteen years so the reunion for the family prompted many impromptu celebrations and outings while they stayed. Many of which I was included.

By the end of their trip Emo and Nana nearly collapsed from exhaustion. True to Korean custom the wives and daughters have to assume the role of a hostess and with many more mouths to feed and extended friends and family dropping in unannounced they had to be constantly and somewhat thanklessly on their toes ready to serve. That being said all the rest of the family pitched in from time to time and It was fun having them around.

On the school front things are currently a bit different from the regular routine. This week just gone the students underwent their end of semester tests. Duration Four days... Prior to that for the preceding three weeks or so I have been conducting individual speaking tests with students. Some were interesting but with 600 for me to complete they quickly became tedious. I'm glad they are done and now I have a more accurate understanding of the students actual communication abilities. Most are very low and struggle to understand or contribute anything more than basic rote-learnt sound bites. This is after, on average two-three hours a week for the last 7,8 or 9 years...

After the tests were finished I had to prepare some questions and supervise during the four days of testing. Sounds easy but Government policy dictates there must be two teachers present in each class who must stand up on patrol for the duration.
Very boring and with the muggy summer weather beginning to kick in and silent corridors and staff rooms the time dragged on and on.

On the health front the body's been pretty stable lately although with the rain and the heat lately i've not been exercising at all other than the short stroll to the bus stop, which I know is not enough but after a long day teaching and a commute of over two hours I just can't be bothered.

So, to the future. Next week on Thursday the schools summer vacation officially starts. But amazingly enough this creates little difference for the students at school. This is due to strictly enforced summer school programs. In reality the only difference for the high school students in Korea during Summer Vacation is they get to arrive home at six o'clock at night rather than ten o'clock at night which is the regular routine. Yaay!!

I'm part of this torture test and have been assigned the post of chief English basher. I have been given a good list of students to take under my wing for four hours a day for eighteen days. After this time there is a few days still remaining from the official vacation period which I might get off for free or I will be seconded to head office for reassignment to another school to help out the detainees/students for the remainder of their vacation.

So, the next month or so might be a little different on the school front which is not that bad. but also not that good either as my co-teachers language ability is not good enough to help out at all and the speaking tests revealed that 90% of the students really don't understand much of what is said at all.

Change is usually good but the difficulty is that it comes with new explanations, new information, new expectations, new requests and organisation etc, etc. Which is fine in a English speaking country but when you have to understand or do all of the before-mentioned by osmosis, sixth sense or just plain guessing it is somewhat more of a difficult challenge. So be it- life will go on and i'm sure i'll pull it together when the time comes.

On the family front, some very good news. Alice is coming over in early September and I can't wait to see her here. That will also be an exciting and busy time for both her and me so the next month or so will probably fly by albeit a very hot and sweaty next month.

Mongshidi's Agi's

2007-06-12T21:37:00.000+09:00

It's been business as usual the past few days with one major exception - Mongshidi has had puppies and they are absolutely beautiful.

I have forgotten how nice puppies are I love them soo much they are very cute and very small. A day or two ago they started moving about a bit and they opened their eyes. Have I mentioned I love them!!!

Here's some photos and a vid - enjoy. There is also some interesting banter from Emo to listen to. She clucks away like this all the time, its very endearing.

Summer Soccer

2007-06-09T07:34:00.000+09:00

Yes, thats right summer has finally hit and I am suffering through 28 deg days and cool nights, a sea breeze and sunshine.

Last weekend I played in a soccer tournament which was fun albeit a bit of a shock to my rapidly aging body. In true Korean form we had a crash course of training administered two days before the comp. This took place by way of a "friendly" game against a team of second years in a pair of slightly small borrowed boots on a gravel track.

I finished the game a little worse for wear suffering a light groin strain and general shock to the system after running around for the best part of two hours on hard packed gravel that the Queenstown Crows would salivate over.

So Saturday dawned and being the second day after the game my body had well and truly tightened up. I suffered through some stretches and a long hot shower but I couldn't escape the thought that as soon as I put any extra effort on my body it would start to break.

Anyway, Mr Moon picked me up and we went to Cheju Tourism College, the venue for this auspicious clash of the minnows. We arrived to see our team already striped and ready to go. We hastily joined them and the fun and games commenced. The whole soccer set up was thoroughly professional with uniforms for all teams, registered umpires and the pomp and ceremony of bowing to each team and the "royal box" before and after each game. The royal box housed various Jeju education officials and leaders, mostly ajoshis who were doing a good job taking on a self-set soju challenge.

Well I must say that I was very impressed with the display of teamwork, commitment and skill that was displayed by all of our team. We scored twice in the first game. Once from a free kick taken outside the box and the other a direct strike from a corner kick that David Beckham would be proud of. The other team scored once so we were through to the second round.
Personally, I did raise the odd eyebrow or two being the only waygook at the competition. I should also say that it was a knock-out tournament with ten other high-school teacher teams. And yes being a tall whitey I did create quite a stir.

I've never played soccer before and now I do realise why so many people around the world are in love with the game. The second game was won one nil, with PK also known as Uruguayan striker "Recoba" got onto the end of a pass and slotted home the finishing touch to a top piece of team play that started from midfield.

So, we won the first two games and drew the third and after an elaborate, culturally rich and swift game of "rock, scissors, paper" to decide who would go through to the semi final we were dispatched unceremoniously to the showers.

This was a piece of good fortune for us as we were dropping like flies all over the park from various ailments. Myself, I had aggravated Thursdays groin strain and had a little hammy pull on my right which scared me a little, as continuing to play would be folly, also by this stage we didn't have any sub's.

In the wash-up, three games were fun and a fourth, in the fading light, wouldn't be. I was happy to become a spectator for the remainder of the day. In another part of the college, female teams of teachers were assembling to take part in yet another jump rope challenge. Some of the teams were good, uniformed and coached and had to be told to stop after some time. Others such as our motley crew didn't trouble the leaders.

There was also a singing contest and a raffle with many prizes. I won an exercise stepper machine which was ironic as my hammy and groin tightened up again as I made my way down stairs to applause to receive my prize. We soon all adjourned to a restaurant downtown for a feed and a few of us continued on until the wee hours. I woke the next day... but didn't do too much more.

The week just gone was uneventful although we had a public holiday on Wednesday for Memorial Day, their version of Rememberence Day. I was still too sore to do too much.

It's now 8;30 on Saturday morning and I'm starting to finally feel a little more energetic. I'm well rested after crashing out at 8:00 last night and Emo served up the regular fare at seven this morning so I've plenty of fuel in the tank but I'm not sure what to do.

The scarcity of other English speakers is starting to impact on my social life. The few I've met are pretty random sorts but next week there is a function on the Saturday for all foreign teachers (apparently there is about forty) on the island to attend. So with luck I may meet some good sorts. The Korean friends I have here are excellent but mentally they can be hard work for various reasons. I'm sure this is true for them with me too.
So, nothing exciting today on the agenda, I've probably been a bit spoilt lately anyway.
Cheers

Buddha's Birthday with Emo & Donam Halmony.

2007-06-01T22:08:00.000+09:00

This finely tuned group of athletes are taking a well deserved spell at half time...

The student team we practiced against having their spell at half time.
Result: Students 3 Def. Teachers 0
Reports: Nil, although the teachers were warned several times for deliberate slow play.
Injuries: To be advised.

The four day weekend was good last weekend and although I didn't get up to too much I did go and check out the Buddha's day celebrations at Cheonwangsa Temple. www.cheonwangsa.co.kr
It was quite good but the constant rain put a damper on things. I went with Emo and her mother who I call Donam Halmony. Literally, Grandmother from Donam. Not to be confused with the halmony on Sumtunes side of the family who Emo still has skirmishes with, apparently they are usually over Emo's cooking and food that she sends around to her. My guess is that Emo and the other halmony love a good ol bicker now and again.

So, I spent the day 'driving Miss Daisy' x2. Donam Halmony loves me and wants me to get married to Nana. She calls me 'Ham' and just like Emo, if she says something to me in Korean and I don't understand it she repeats it at increased volume and frequency to me until I understand. Usually I don't but if I said I didn't understand they would keep on until I did,or think I was a simpleton. Bless their hearts!

Both ladies are super sort's and I felt privileged to be able to spend the day with them both at the temple. Most of my time was spent holding an umbrella for Donam Halmony and I enjoyed every minute of it, listening to them cluck away like a couple of old hens.

I didn't do too much else of note for the rest of the weekend other than go to the pictures to see; I'm sure, the Korean version of "Pirates of the Caribbean" as it went for 2 hour and 48 minutes. I also took sick pleasure in listening to the Koreans in the audience struggle with the translation into Hangul, nice to have them walk a mile in my shoes! On Sunday I had a well deserved massage and everything was put back into position for the week ahead.

This week was back to normal other than a soccer game on Thursday night from which I still have a few aches and pains as it was played on gravel and I had only a pair of slightly small, borrowed, soccer boots to play in. I paid the price today, and tomorrow, Saturday, I'm in a teachers team which is taking on some other teams of teachers, in some form of a tournament. Strangely, I'm actually getting paid to play, free lunch and complementary full uniform. As I've said before, these folks don't do anything by halves and tomorrow I'm sure to find out why the lunch is free!

Phew, I've finally caught up on this blog. Hopefully tomorrow is dull, boring and I have no photo's so I don't have to write. Just kidding this blog was one of the best spur of the moment decisions I have made and I'm quite proud looking back that I have managed to continue and improve upon it. I only hope that the dial-up connections back home can cope with the slideshows and video's. Also, very soon I will celebrate my 1000th visitor to sammyssouthernsojourn bye bye.

Sehwa School Festival Day 3

2007-06-01T20:59:00.000+09:00

Well by day three the horse was well and truly beaten and thankfully the sports day began, but not without a few twists.

The games included:
The soccer and basketball finals for the boys.
Dodge ball and Soccer style baseball for the girls.
The boys competed in traditional wrestling
and both the girls and boys competed in the blue ribbon event-"Chicken Fighting".
Truly this has to be seen to be believed.

The basketball was played at a high standard but the highlight for me was the way the students in the crowd sang and cheered all day long in support of their team.

At three in the afternoon things wound up in the gymnasium and we ventured out to the athletic field. Three o'clock's always a good time to start a school athletic carnival...

The Athletics was mostly in the form of relays with most teachers stepping up to assist each team. I ran in a relay and I'm happy to report I showed glimpses of past glory days as I strode past a couple of other runners.

Finally the day and festival was over and I'm not afraid to admit I was festival-ed out. The good news was I had a four day weekend to look forward to. Thursday being Buddha's birthday which is a national holiday and Friday designated for some reason by the school to be a day off. No complaints here I was stuffed.

Sehwa Festival Day 2 and Jeju University Concert

2007-06-01T20:10:00.000+09:00

A new day dawned at school however to my surprise the revelry continued in the same vein as the previous day. I thought day two would be a sports day as I had been seconded to a third year soccer team. The school rules stating that all athletic pursuits competed by the students must have a teacher on each team. After initial confusion as to what the students were up to I realised the first game was actually underway. I t was a game show style competition in which the whole student population was culled, question and answer style until a single winner was found. Just when it was getting interesting the skipping ropes came out and the teachers formed teams to see how many jumps we could complete together. We managed two complete revolutions and the winning team managed about fifteen. After this time and no clear winner in sight for the quiz game I made a stealthy exit back to my office. I came down intermittently to check on things but it was time for the students to endure some more long winded speeches which seemed to be getting shouted "at" them at increasing volume. Many of the kids were asleep where they sat, but on and on the speakers went , beating that dead horse...

At a little after three in the afternoon the soccer teams finally played and the result in my game was decided on penalties after we finished two all after full time. Soccer is their national passion and most of the boys can really play well. I was very surprised at the skill and power the young bucks had. We ended up losing the penalty shootout but it was a good game and lots of fun was had by all.

I headed home to Oodi house and joined Emo and Nana who were going to a concert being held at the university. It was quite entertaining in parts however we had to endure another two hours of speeches, shouted at us before the warm up act, a b-boy style dance group started to perform. They were really good but during the course of the next hour and a half they only performed to about five songs! Making speeches all the other time. What is it with some people and their love affair with the sound of their own voices?

Finally the main event came on and they were brilliant for about half an hour. Then things came to an abrupt halt and I learned afterwards that this was due to someone in the crowd getting trampled, bit harsh. Any way It had been a good day and I was ready for bed. Lets not forget that the festival at school still has another day to run and the next one must be a sports day. They couldn't have more speeches.. could they???

Sehwa School Festival Day 1

2007-05-31T22:46:00.000+09:00

Last week Sehwa had its school festival. It was very long, very interesting and at times lots of fun. Koreans don't do anything by halves and this was no exception. Monday from nine to six was taken up with long speeches and musical performances. Including a tearful/painful rendition of Proud Mary by yours truly.

Sehwa's proud of its strong tradition in training pole dancers!

These 15y/olds really know how to ROCK!!!

The pick of the day. The singer was very cool and the lead guitarist would have made Slash proud.

Somebody get this guy off the stage...

I'm not going to give you a blow by blow description of every thing however some of the highlights were; the students all letting go helium balloons into the sky, The musical performances by many different rock groups and solo singers. The different games and stalls each class set up. Soju with the principal at morning tea time and Makoli (fizzy rice wine) at lunchtime with all the staff. On top of that the whole event was covered by a local Jeju television variety show and of course the two foreign teachers were interviewed. It screens 4 times tomorrow so hopefully I catch it.

On a different note, with so many photos to show, the easiest way seems to be embedding a slide show (above) here rather than individual photos. I think it is the way to go but I have a very fast internet connection here and I'm not sure how the Tassie dial-up is going to cope with it so if you have dramas heres the link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Sammyspics/SehwaFestivalDay1

Sunday at Seogipo

2007-05-30T22:09:00.000+09:00

Not last Sunday but the one before (20/5) was a beautiful day and too good to waste. I have been to many places so far on the island but not yet had I visited the southern coastal city of Seogipo. A city which according to the tourist books is reasonably popular as a summer destination due to its proximity to a number of good beaches and various other attractive places.

So after fortifying myself with some of Emo's well-being nosh for breakfast I headed for the main bus terminal in the hope that I could just get on one straight away and head off. This plan was changed when a friendly taxi driver told me he could drive me for $20. Seogipo is about a 45 minute car ride away from where I am so this seemed like a reasonable deal, plus a 45 minute car ride can quickly turn into a 2 hour bus ride if it decides to stop in every nook and cranny along the way as they often do.

I was deposited at Jungmun beach by the taxi which is just west of Seogipo city. Jungmun was a very nice first stop. It was very pretty with lush green forests and lava cliffs stopping just short of a small pearly white beach and very blue sea. I went for a walk along the beach and much to my surprise it was virtually empty. It was a Sunday and a balmy 23 deg... Maybe because the beach isn't officially open (complete with lifeguard) till summer the locals stay away. Law abiding citizens they are!

I hung about there for a little while and then set off for the next place on my way to Seogipo, Cheonjeyeon waterfall. It turned out to be three waterfalls but there was only enough water for one to be splashing down.

It was very spectacular and tropical and I had to restrain myself from jumping in(prohibited) to cool off from the rising heat. I also felt like I had the place to myself there too until I spied all the locals together in the shade taking photo's of each other, some distance from the actual falls! The lengths they go to to avoid the sun's warm embrace...I hung about again for a while and continued on my way.

Next stop was lunch followed by a visit to Jeju's world cup 2002 soccer stadium.

It too was pretty impressive but most notable and I must add most memorable was a complete section of the second floor devoted to none other than The World Sex Museum or aptly named Eros Museum! There were more dicks there than a Wesly Vale farmers convention and all shapes and sizes. Ranging from ancient statues to the battery operated variety complete with "training videos" being screened on the cctv's and big screen projectors about the place. The whole experience left me with strange feelings of surprise, a bit giggly and rather anxious to visit my local hairdresser who has been a bit flirty lately.....

Overall I was completely bewildered that I could be innocently visiting a sports ground and stumble across a place like this in Korea!!! A conservative country that prohibits pornography, seems culturally quite sexually repressed and at an international venue!

I did stumble upon another museum on my way out however by comparison "it was nothing to write home about" (note the savvy use of irony). It was a paper doll museum which also joined up with more exhibits of old cameras, tape recorders, 80's record covers including The N.K.O.T Block, Wham, Michael Bolton and Wacko Jacko before he was white and freaky.

At the far end of one hallway was a mockup of an old classroom. The first thing that struck me was how similar, minus the computer and tv it was to the ones in Korea today. Until I saw one thing that we don't have anymore and that is a gun racked on the side of the wall. The inscription read that it was on hand in case the Japanese invaded post WW2. Prior to the end of WW2 the Japanese had occupied Korea from about 1905.

The Koreans don't have much time for the Japanese as it's only a generation or two ago that they suffered under their rule. Unlike Germany who seem to have acknowledged and attempted to reconcile their past actions, Japan still celebrates its WW2 achievements today and also fails to apologise or even acknowledge any past wrongdoings which is still an open wound for most Koreans. They even deny many atrocities in the history books used in schools.

I took the long way home on the bus, going right round the eastern side of the island which took in the impressive sight of Sunrise Peak, which is kind of like the nut at Stanley however this one is formed by lava flow.
2 hours later I was home very satisfied with a day out looking about and ready for an exciting week ahead at Sehwa with the schools 3 day festival and birthday celebrations on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday Buddha's birthday public holiday and Friday a no-school day for a reason I still don't know but am happy to have off.

You Tube Comes To sammyssouthernsojourn

2007-05-28T23:48:00.000+09:00

Alright, stay tuned Ive been up to lots lately. I have lots of new photos in my album and will start soon to explain them all and the going's on over here in Korea. I've also broken my 'you tube' cherry and will try and load some interesting videos of the students going for it at the recent Sehwa festival. In the mean time here's a taste.
This video is of the students coming to attention, "military style' at the start of the festival. I only caught the last bit on camera but it's pretty interesting to say the least.

The Oodi House Family

2007-05-27T22:21:00.001+09:00

Introducing the Oodi House family. This is Songie, very cute and playful. Thats Narnia in the background. He's had the shits since Songie's arrival a couple of weeks ago.

Heres a photo of Oodi House. My room is on the second floor, rear on the left. It has a balcony facing the trees.

Now a few weeks back I wrote about helping the crew out building a stone wall, Jeju style. These things are everywhere, around houses, roads and farm fields. I came home one day to find a couple of bank robbers, namely Emo and Nana scratching around putting on some finishing touches. You might have to 'click' on the photo to enlarge it to see the full 'Jeju Woman' headdress. They all wear them, young and old. Its to avoid the old stigma associated with poverty, farm work and poor education that a suntan has historically represented. This is sad because I reckon they are lucky with their natural colouring and a tan is healthy and attractive. Over here they take great pains to ensure their whiteness including all styles of caps, masks and gloves.

From left to right, Nana, Sumtune (uncle) and Emo (auntie). The dog is a heavily pregnant Mongshidie and Narnia the cat. We are all having a good laugh at Emos effort in spreading the grass seed evenly. If that wasn't ridiculous enough a few minutes later some scissors were produced and the grass was given a trim. Soon we will have puppies to play with. The whole place is a bit of a zoo but it adds to the atmosphere. Shamefully we don't know who the father is. It could be anyone of a number of mangy hounds that roam about the place.

Nana and Songie. Nana has recently decided she will move to Seoul. I think it will be good for her, she desperately needs to get out on her own. Shes 26 and historically/culturally children stay at home until they are married off. At the moment she as no prospects or intentions to get married and it wouldn't sit well with everyone if she just moved out and stayed in Jeju. By moving to Seoul the family have a legit story to explain why she's not at home, they are a good mob but keeping face is very important here.
The Son, Pearudi is experiencing similar frustrations. He finally, after finishing high school (an endurance event I still haven't fully explained), one year at university and then two years compulsory military service in the navy is now in his final year at uni. He has a part time job at the airport, some money, some spare time and most importantly for him he has a girlfriend. His lifestyle has I think a reasonable balance for a 23 year old and he is experiencing for the first time a bit of freedom and he likes it. However, he is constantly under the pump by the parents to spend more time at home and do this, do that.
I hope the happy vibe of the house doesn't unravel in the next few months as stubborn heads from different generations clash. From my perspective it's sad to see good people be inconsiderate to each other unnecessarily and also its interesting to see and experience different family culture first hand.

On a different note. I was teaching the students the other day how to describe different objects. Shape, size colour etc. I had a bundle of random items that I wanted them to describe and my camera was one of them. Kids will be kids and I found a few extra shots on my camera that they must have taken...

This is me teaching in one of the many identical classrooms in Sehwa, Jeju and all over Korea. Its basic with a blackboard, big tv, one computer for powerpoint presentations on the tv. Lockers at the back, small wooden chairs and matching desks, a clock and finally a Korean flag. Theres nothing personal in the room. Not a poster or photo of anything. In true Korean style all the classrooms are the same. This is maybe to ensure an even playing field between rich schools and poorer schools....

Although they are constantly tired and stressed the students are remarkably friendly and co-operative. There hasn't been any fights this year that I've heard of. However if there was it wouldn't have been publicised. Also, their behavior in class is angelic. Other than them often chatting when they need to be listening I have had no problems.
This is a boys class which sadly lost a student earlier this year. Stress is a big problem for Korean high school students. These guys are 3rd year students (year 12) 6 months away from university and 18 months away from the Military. After which time most will return with changed attitudes, well drilled in their role within this still male dominated society. At the moment these guys are all charm but sadly after the military gets hold of them most change into domineering Ajoshi's.

This is a 2nd year girls class, hair, make up and boys are their only concern at the moment. They are lots of fun but I definitely earn my pay with this lot. Speaking of pay I have finally paid off my credit card!!!

Yaaaaay!

Bye!

May Update

2007-05-09T20:52:00.000+09:00

I realise I haven't written for a while and although keeping this blog up to date is a priority the main reason for my absence is that I have been busy living it up over here in Jeju.

Firstly, Happy birthday Jake. I hope you had fun celebrating. Happy Mothers Day to mummy for this Sunday. I hope you too have a good day.

Looking back over the past fortnight I have had some interesting experiences and i'm beginning to feel fully immersed in to the school and home life/culture. The students, teachers and friends over here are beginning to show their true colours and on the whole most of the relationships I have developed so far are genuinely positive and friendly. Also, some who I had pegged early as being a bit shallow, or just pretending to be friendly to the new kid in town, to look good for everyone else, are under control and drifting along harmlessly.

Which is good. I know first impressions count a lot over here and as I've written in previous posts, I have at times, early in my visit frustratingly had to pay lip service to some folks over here in order to get certain things done. I also haven't easily known when and from whom I will need help from, or who is actually in a position to make life easy or difficult for me. All of this has made it necessary for me to be a bit zen about things. Eg: Zen's Art of War - Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

Now for a bit of an update. Not last Friday, but the Friday before I went to Halla -San, or in English, Halla Mountain. Jeju's jewel in the crown as far hiking destinations goes. Its a dormant volcano and as you might have imagined, conically shaped. Its height is nearly 2000m above sea level which makes it the tallest mountain on the Korean peninsular and I think one of the tallest in this part of Northern Asia.

This trip was part of Sehwa's field trip day for third year (Year 12) students. the first and second year's went to other locations. The walk up Halla-san is a traditional third year challenge for the students and they and I were very much looking forward to it. Walking up at a reasonable pace takes a group roughly three hours and walking down funnily enough takes abit longer.

As per usual a spanner got thrown in the works. This time however it was mainly my own doing the previous evening. The second year teachers, secure in the knowledge that they had a leisurely bus ride to Songaksan the next day and a museum visit, had organised a bit of a do for all the second year teachers. I was invited at short notice and "sure, i'd love to come" was my response. The restaurant was good, with a good vibe amongst the teachers, principal and v/principal. The early formalities actually included a heartfelt toast and congratulations to me on the way I have begun at the school. Which was really nice, I responded with equal earnestness and thanked all and sundry for their welcome and help during my first months. They lapped it up and we all began to eat our fill. Next stop was a Norebung (kareoke bar) and at the request of the principal I sung a tearful rendition of my stock Norebung song Proud Mary by CCR. By this stage every one is either getting inebriated or ready to go home. I was in reasonable shape but knowing tomorrow would be no good on a hangover I was ready to go soon too.

Ok, so i'm exiting the bar with all the crew and a couple of drunken Ajoshi's (older guys) in our group, start arguing, pushing and shoving. Probably over the size of their Hyuandai or whose "harry-high-pant" action is the most alluring to the ladies.
Appearances are very important to keep in Korean culture and I reckon upon realising I, a impressionable whitey was with the group, the principal quickly distanced himself from the malee and ushered me and PK into a nearby taxi, along with the schools credit card and instructions, I'm sure, along the lines to PK. Something like, "Get Sam smashed so he wont remember them making asses of themselves and behaving like two year olds." Many Ajoshis suffer from Nepoleonic syndrome, ie: they truly believe that 5'5" is plenty tall for a man.

What PK didn't realise and i'm sure the principal didn't bank on was that although my cheeks were flushed(in Korea if your cheeks are flushed it means you are very pissed) I was only lightly watered and well fed by this stage. Off we went to another bar where PK proceeded to order, on the expense account a lavish fruit platter and a bottle of whiskey. That finished (straight), we decided another was needed and although we were helped out with the second by two lovely bar girls who joined us, by the time we were finished we'd both definitely passed our peak.

I got home in a taxi and was asleep before my head had hit the pillow. What seemed like minutes later I was awake and downstairs being fed a cocktail of "well-being" breakfast food by a kindly scolding, and somewhat out of focus Emo.

Now some days you wake from a big night and things are ok, sometimes they are terrible and at other times you just dont quite know if you are ok or not. I was like this, that day and in all honesty probably still drunk. Anyway, when the going gets tough, the tough get barocca. and I had plenty. Thankfully it, or Emo's well being cure-all's did the trick and I got through the day with only moderate ill effects.

Halla-san was a fun trip and although not as spectacular as I thought it would be was well worth the effort. There are plenty of new pictures to look at on my photo album site. http://picasaweb.google.com/Sammyspics
After the bus ride home I was summoned to attend another party for teachers. This time the third year teachers. Similar merriment and mayhem ensued minus the whiskey and ajoshi pissing contests.

Embarrassingly I must be flavour of the month as once again I was told in no uncertain terms what a good bloke and great teacher I have been. This is nice but I take it with a grain of salt for two reasons. One being, if your head is in the clouds its a long way to fall and as I have realised, my friendly Korean's are quick to complement and can be equally quick to criticise.
Secondly, it could reflect their insecurities and prejudices about working with a foreigner, I assume most have only had contact with relatively few and in all honesty, as I have said before, during my first experience in Seoul and here in Jeju, the foreigners here teaching are a bit of a mixed bag to say the least.

The Saturday morning found me in the dentists chair again. I shot my mouth off last post about the cheapness of a root canal over here. It will actually cost me the same as in oz, but it needs to be done so, so be it.
Sunday was a strange day which I planned to be pretty lazy, just tidying up some loose ends. But after breakfast I decided to go up Sarabong with Nana, Emo and Mongshidi the dog. Emo was hunting for Gosardi, a weedy like plant that she assured me to be " many, many well-being" and on my return I had decided to finally get out the Korean language book I have bought and try to learn some of the script. I know all the letters now and can make sense of most words although the meaning of each word is still alien to me.

I had lunch and was planning to head to the supermarket but Emo and Sumtune were busy erecting a stone wall on the side of the house. Jeju is famous for three things Wind, Women and Stone. All over the place around every farm field there are volcanic stone walls. Emo (with bad back) and Sumtune (with a recently healed broken collarbone from a soccer fall) were busy making hard work out of its construction. I couldn't in all conscience walk past without offering a hand so I rolled the sleeves up and got into it. It was quite fun with Emo and Sumtune clucking away like a couple of hens and also since arriving here and seeing all the walls everywhere else and the pile out the back of Ooudi house, I have wanted to make one myself. A few hours and a couple of scratched hands later we finished and off to the supermarket I went.

On my return I was told that I would be required to attend a family dinner at a local steak house and that I needed to hurry up if I wanted a shower. Dinner was great and after we all went to a norebang. Now I should mention that the family here are all awesome singers and my rendition of , you guessed it. Proud Mary by CCR received only mild acclaim. A couple of hours later with vocals and eyelids now fully stretched we headed home. There's never a dull moment.....

As we pulled out of our carpark space, a car did the same in front of us going the other way. Both Sumtune and the other driver assumed (ajoshi style) that they were king of the road and all who traveled it. And both refused to give way to the other in the single lane side street. Neither could back down after initially claiming the road as their sovereign territory or they would suffer a severe loss of face.

Much finger pointing and shouting ensued and a Mexican standoff occurred with neither willing to reverse the 15 or 20 metres to allow space for the other to pass first. This tense deadlock was broken 25 min later by a artful piece of Kissenger like brinkmanship, brokered unknowingly by some other nearby restaurant patrons who exited na adjacent car space which allowed our car to maneuver in such a way that we could both gain forward motion (this is key) and pass simultaneously. Phew... Sumtune is a tip top little feller who, to his credit appologized to me the next morning but this is just a small example of the "ajoshi style" which is ingrained into all proud Korean middle aged men and small men of other races too!

Last week at school was different with two days of exam study for all students and three days of exams which covered all their forty seven required subjects and their option subject. During the week I also got a haircut nearby and went to the dentist again. Emo's so taken by my new Hangul linguistic skills that she has preceded to attempt to teach me all Korean words both traditional and local Jeju slang. Which is very sweet but a little problematic...

This week school has been back to normal and yesterday was Parents Day in Korea. Nana treated me and the family to some sashimi and I took the opportunity to buy Sumtune and Emo a gift and a thank you card written by me in Hangul which they graciously accepted and joked at my spelling mistakes. It's now after midnight and I definitely need my beauty sleep so till next time.

Finally a lazy wekend!

2007-04-22T19:35:00.000+09:00

Its Sunday and I've just finished one of Emo's spectacular smorgasboard's. This weekend was very very lazy with lots of tv, sleep and food consumed. I planned to do many things but I had a severe case of the cbf's and didn't end up doing anything much. This is fine as i've been going hammer and tong since my arrival and mentally I needed to veg out a bit. Which is fine.

I've still been reasonably entertained by the comings and goings at Ooudi house. On Friday night I walked up Peltobong and Sarabong, the two volcanic hills next to my house with Nana (surrogate sister) who has quit her job editing tourist guide books to go back studying in June, so at the moment she has lots of time off. The first thing she did upon leaving her job was to get eyelid surgery to open her eyes a little more. This is very common over here with the majority of females sporting, what they call as double eyelids. I suppose it does make her a little more attractive and if it boosts her confidence its a good thing.

Saturday I was chaperoned to the local dentist by Nana for a root canal job which cost the princely sum of $20.00US. But the anesthetic as usual knocked me for six and I have since been very lethargic. I'm booked in again on Tuesday night for some more treatment on other teeth, and it seems the long overdue job of fixing up my failing dentures is going to finally take place.

Emo's becoming increasingly aware that I have made very little progress learning Hungul language and script and in true un-diplomatic Korean tones she tells me so repeatedly. This is a little frustrating as getting the mental headspace to learn a new language so far hasn't happened and although I am philosophic that the time will come it can't be too soon for Emo. The reason being is very positive however as she treats me like a son and her and the entire family's help and friendship has been overwhelming. The least I could do in return is learn the lingo!!

So as another week finishes and a new one begins I can look forward to another dental visit and as next Friday is field trip day I'm going on a mountain climb up Halla-san with the third grade students, which should be great as Halla-san is the main thing people come to Jeju to see.

Last week the vibe at Sehwa had improved somewhat and we had our photo's taken for the yearbook and next week should be good so all's well. I caught up with the family on my new mobile phone( another thing the family here has helped me with) this past week and it was great to hear everyones voice again.

The weeks are flying by

2007-04-15T07:46:00.000+09:00

Things are finally beginning to get sorted out on the work front. My schedule is now set, although daily changes keep me on my toes. I've decided on a curriculum and judging by the non-reaction of the Korean English teachers it seems to be ok. So, as of now I know what I'm teaching, who I'm teaching and mostly, when I'm teaching. Basic stuff from my point of view which should have been already in place before my arrival, however it's nice now to have it finalised.

The Korean teachers seem happy and so they should as they have literally an armchair ride. Their assumed "co-teaching" responsibilities are to attend my classes. Sit at the back of the room and offer the occasional word or two of translation. Some are better than others however their actual input into the teaching process is minimal. Although not ideal, this is not a problem at the moment because I'm on a roll with the students. However I can see a time in the future when if I start to experience difficulties, which will inevitably happen, they will need to be careful with their criticism and I also will need to be aware not to react appropriately/hostilely.

The students are also generally happy and friendly albeit extremely tired from their excessive hours of class and study. Most have caught colds or have them at the moment and so have the teachers, including me but mine is on the improve. Sandi, has got pneumonia and will be away for a few more days, much to the disgust of her co-teachers as according to them her suffering should be public, prolonged and the opportunity to pass on her cooties imminent. Also, they're not chuffed about having to move their arse from the back to the front of the classroom.

My salary and air flight reimbursement, a subject I have been constantly nagging a pleb at HQ about is finally agreed upon. They tried to change things on a technicality on my arrival but I persisted and they are now keeping to their side of the bargain. I finally worked my way up the chain of command and spoke to the horses mouth. Five minutes later things were all sorted. My impression is that most Korean business deals are at best, not transparent and the leadership, managers and subordinates of all organisations I have dealt with tend to cling onto their power and prestige by guarding information. I've had experience with individuals like this in previous jobs in Australia however in Korea it is an obvious cultural heirachy system.

This is even evident when dealing with outwardly, very friendly and polite co-teachers. However if I want to do more than scratch the surface and actually find out something of value, which is often the case, I have to plug away and pry every small morsel of information, all the while thanking them profusely for the privilege of their learned counsel. Being aware of this is half the battle, the other half is having the patience to keep chipping away finding out more stuff because they volunteer very little information. And often it is not obvious what I need to know until I find out one morsel of info then I need to know more. The most frustrating part is that they have no qualms about showering you with compliments and gifts etc but rarely give you or tell you what you need.

This style still has a kind of charm that is not completely lost on me and also with the language barrier I can talk them into giving up their treasure trove of local knowledge in such a way that they either don't realise they have or that it was their idea in the first place. Also playing the dumb foreigner card can also help as they love any opportunity to exhibit their superiority. All this takes time and energy which is not ideal but shooting from the hip and calling a spade a spade is too much for them to cope with. Especially from a 'Waygook' (Foreigner) which they are very quick to brand as ignorant, stupid or unable to understand/assimilate into Korea and its infinitely important culture. There does come a time for straight talk however and HQ got plenty of it this week.

I think also, they like to play, "test the foreigner" to see how far they can push their perceived power and superiority. As a race they definitely don't suffer from a lack of self esteem. I think Korea has small country syndrome and as most of them consider 5ft6" tall, there is probably more than their fair share of individual sufferers here too. Where Australians will tease or joke at another's expense to see if they bite/get offended. Koreans tend to try to outwardly give you the world but in reality give you nothing you want and they then appear to sit back and enjoy watching you slowly get frazzled.

Sometimes though they decide that you have passed the test and that they like you. Other times though they come to the other conclusion, but make no mistake it's their decision. Understanding this allow the doors of the real Korea to open and you start to find out why things are the way they are and that Korea and Koreans are just insecure about their place in the world due to its history both distant and recent.

Jeju, being smaller than the mainland seems to be a harder but quicker nut to crack. You can't drift by unnoticed doing your own thing as you can in Seoul. So it's necessary to engage in more local 'tests'/pissing contests. A simplistic example is the food. Don't get me wrong the food is delicious. But this can also be a test...

Example: they will invite you to a restaurant sit you down and order the most disgusting thing on the menu that even average Koreans cringe and gag at. Of course they are paying and you must thank them profusely for the opportunity to be tortured in this most unique and culturally significant way. Upon leaving they will also thank you for joining them and that they are glad that you had a good time. The offer of a similar experience in the near future will be proposed and you accept. At this stage they may pay you the highest complement that 'it's possible you may become a good Korean'.

From this point on the good news is that the torture becomes less and less and because you "didn't blink" or screw you face up at the first bit of torture you have earned the right to express a "small opinion" about the various degrees of deliciousness provided by "all" Korean food. If the food can't possibly be described as slightly delicious while keeping a straight face. Then it is described as "well-being", Mr Moon, a co-teacher has confided in me that well-being food is any food that looks like shit, smells like shit and yes tastes like shit but has some mysterious, indefinable and of course unquestionable good quality for you body.

Speaking of Mr Moon, I have had the chance during the last few weekends to get out and about with a few of the other Sehwa teachers. I've been to the cherry blossom festival in Jeju City with P.K, a day trip around the west coast with Mr Moon, Mr Jong and families. I went to U-do (U island) last weekend with Mr Kim and family to check out the yellow flower festival and also I attended Mr Lee's wedding. A typical Korean affair with all the trimmings and photo opportunities but completely over, lunch included, within an hour.

All this time the hospitality shown to me at Ooudi House has been constant, plentiful and best of all genuine. I am completely and continually amazed by their generosity. It is without doubt the highlight of the trip so far.

NEWS FLASH: Congratulations to Jacob, Naomi and Natalia on the news of a new member of the Byrne clan on the way.

Where to start???

2007-04-04T21:20:00.000+09:00

20 days since last post and so much has happened. When I wrote last I had just taken delivery of a new laptop which has since been changed to english ( thankfully) and I was searching frantically for somewhere to watch the cricket online.

Well, i'm pleased to report that I did indeed receive some great advice and i've been able to catch a highlights package via: http://www.crickethighlights.info/

It shows a highlights package for each game which lasts about 45min. So I miss the drama but it's better than any other coverage I can find. I was bleary eyed trying to catch up on the action initially however as there is no cricket coverage over here in the news to spoil the result I don't mind and can catch up on the action at my leisure.

On the school front things are steadily improving. From the get-go the kids were very friendly, inquisitive and well behaved. Their English level is pretty poor so making any headway is pretty difficult but we seem to get along well and they generally stay attentive and actively participate for the entire lesson. This is no small feat as every class has sleepy, sleeping and often sick kids attending so i'm pleased to keep their attention for the lesson and mostly they enjoy it. The honey moon period for the students with me is somewhat over now but initially my presence was similar to that of a minor celebrity. With outrageously flattering comments by most students and comparisons t most movie stars ranging from Tom Cruise to Brad Pitt! They have now settled on Nicholas Cage which sadly due to his age and receding hairline I tend to agree with them.

The high school students at "Sewah" and all other Korean high schools lead a surreal existence that consists of school from 7:30am - 10:00pm. ( I'll write more about the Korean school system at a later date) The new kid on the block status would probably have remained with me a little longer if it wasn't for a couple of unfortunate events. One was the first of many day-long national tests and secondly and tragically the death of one of the final year students by suicide. The experience of witnessing the school deal with/sweep this event under the table has been mind blowing. It reinforces to me the systemic social change that needs to occur in this country to modernise it in a more authentic way than their cosmetic lust for all things material. That being said, it has put into perspective my small transition dramas which i'm still in the process of ironing out.

Finishing on a positive note. I've made some Korean pal's at school and my weekends have been fun. Also I can't say enough about the family downstairs. They have virtually adopted me including the dog who hates strangers but won't leave me alone and has to be shut inside when I leave in the morning as she will follow me anywhere, much to the surprise of the folks downstairs. I've also taken some great photos and you can see them if you click on "the top link above my photo on the left of this page". It contains about 200 recent photo's from Jeju plus some many others. I've been out and about a fair bit so far and with the weather improving Jeju is showing potential.
Here is the separate link for my photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/Sammyspics Click on the album and you can view each photo separately, slideshow or altogether. It loads photo's alot faster than this blog so I think i'll end up sending most of them there.

Anyway thats a bit of a catch-up on the latest news and i'm now going to finish watching the highlights of the England V Ireland from a few days ago.

I-ta-bi-yo ( see you later!!)

Its Just Like Christmas!

2007-03-14T20:54:00.000+09:00

I just bought myself a swish new laptop. New, all the bells and whistles and it runs a dream...Except I need to get English running gear. Emo's (surrogate mum) on the case and she's organised a bloke to sort it for me in a day or two.
For the tech-heads, it came loaded with vista operating system, 1024 dual-core pentium, 100 gig hard drive, multi reading dvd/cd, speaker set, colour printer and a webcam so you can soon get your jolly's watching me do the ironing, getting out of the shower, scratching inappropriately etc etc.
I have also recently been advised that internet connection (very fast!!) is complementary at Ooudi house so i'm off like a brides nightie!

Now. Onto very important information. If anyone knows how I can watch the Cricket World Cup online i'd be eternally greatful. I missed the ashes completely and am desperately trying not to do a repeat for the WC... So, send me an email : s-byrne@hotmail.com if you know how it can be done. Theres gota be a way! Also a word of advice, the Bombers are hot this year, get-on-em!!

Accommodation

2007-03-13T12:41:00.000+09:00

After my first night at "Ooudi House" I woke/was woken for breakfast at 7.00am. Very early and somewhat unexpected I wound my way downstairs to a dorm-style food hall type breakfast with about 10 other equally bleary eyed high school boys. I qued up and ate my fill and went back to my room to contemplate the previous 24/48 hours. Very weird, and not what i'd expected was the overriding sensation as I drifted off to sleep for the second time.

When I woke again and took stock of the situation I realised that I had accomplished a few good things such as; safe arrival, meet the Jeju education department, meet a teacher(Mr Kim) and get some accommodation. Nothing had fitted the plan in my mind, however as I looked outside I felt that this new accommodation style "if workable" could have many benefits for a stranger in a strange land.

Ooudi House, is a 4 storey building with 20, or so, single apartments with self contained facilities except a kitchen. Considering that I used my kitchen a grand total of ONCE! in Incheon this did not feel like any great loss. In my room which is about 5m x5m I have a single bed and two new bookshelves and two new study desks. Its very light and breezy with a normal size window on the southern side,which has an uninterupted view of Mt Halla (The central volcanic mountain on Jeju island) and on the western side I have a balcony which looks into the parklands at the foot of Sarabong Oorum ( Oorum: is a volcanic hump, like a conical hill of which there is aparently over 300 in the whole of Jeju, most have walking tracks and are a popular place for people to excercise) . To the North of Ooudi House, along a 100m pebbly path is the sea.

On the ground floor there is a catered mess hall style area for meals which are served twice a day at 7 in the morning and at 6 at night. It's good food and really healthy korean stuff. Most residents are high school students who go to school at the nearby Ohyun High School and various travelling businessmen. Initially when I heard it was full of high school students I thought, no-way... But, Korean High School students run a far different schedule than those in the west. They leave at 7.30 and get home after school finishes at 11pm and go straight to bed. They are virtually never there and when they are they are sleeping or eating. They are in general very shy, friendly and polite. To be honest, if I didn't go down for meals I would not hardly see or hear anyone in the building, if I wanted to keep to myself.

Ooudi house also boasts a fine manageress and her family who reside on the ground floor. "Emo" the mum, is coming very close to adopting me into her own brood and although she can't speak a word of english we can communicate very well. Just like Noona at Kids Club. Her hubby "Sock-on" is very kind and friendly too, and unlike most middle aged Korean men that I have met, he doesn't walk around staringdown his juniors, being a hero or acting like the boss. This is a nice change and I think it reflects the islands indigenous culture which historically strongly relys and respects the role of women and there appears to be a relative equality which isn't the case on the mainland.

They have two adult kids who still live with them, (Korean style) Perooudi, 24, (m) university student and Naanaa, 27, (f) working gal. Everyone in the house virtually falls over themself to help me or to be helpful. This can be good and at other times frustrating as sometimes their involvement is a bit smothering and they worry about the tiniest things which I dont even register with. They also feel genuinely sorry for me when they ask, "what I have been doing.... And I say.. O just looking at ...beach, or...shop... park etc etc. And they are visibly alarmed that I would not only attempt such feats, be successful in getting to said destination and back, and also partake in these adventures by myself! Or as they say.."solo".
Naanaa and Peooudi speak a smattering of english and in the short time I have been here they have willingly attempted to translate for Emo or Sockon, or help out with a ride to the shops or something. In April one Sunday we are going to drive round the island which should be good. Jeju city is quite good but I look forward to getting off the beaten track a bit and finding a nice beach or two to enjoy when the weather warms up.

The jury's still out on how long the honeymoon period at the house will last, however I surprise myself daily on how comfortable and convenient the situation is becoming, considering how weird it felt at the start. The major selling point is its proximity to Sarabong Oorum. I'll post some pictures soon but it is the excercise mecca of Jeju city. At the summit of the hump/hill is a huge array of free outdoor gym equipment set amongst the trees and offering a 360 degree view. Also, the house is about a 3 minute walk from a major bus stop and it's situated on the best side of town for my daily commute to Sehwa High School. My new work place.

Jeju arrival.

2007-03-13T11:39:00.000+09:00

It's now the 13th of March and nearly 3 weeks since I have touched down. The mob i'm working for here are fine and friendly however thoroughly disorganised. I don't know if it's just ignorance, nievity or just plain "care factor", but upon arrival I was not pleased to be rushed from pillar to post for them, doing things like signing visa's and visiting schools. When they should have had accommodation and transportation sorted out well and truly before then.

Anyway, I played the game and continue to do so until things get organised. The situation is virtually the opposite to the Kids Club gig with few classes and lots of free time. I'm here with another foreigner, Sandy (f) a 50 something Texan who seems real friendly and has worked here for 6 months already. She's been kept in the dark about our role here as much as anyone and we only get assigned classes on a day by day basis, frequently changed during the day. Which makes planning difficult and frustrating as we/I actually have the time to plan a curriculum if only I knew who and when and how often i'd be teaching? Its only a frustration which the Korean teachers keep saying will end soon. fingers crossed.

So I got here ok and after jumping through all the required hoops at Jeju Ed office and immigration, Mr Kim, a head teacher of the 1st year high schoolers took me to my lodgeings.
1st impressions were a bit surreal as I entered what seemed to be a cold, newly built hostel type accomodation facility. I was very tired at this stage and told Mr Kim i'd take it on a month by month basis, which after some wrangling he seemed satisfied with. I didn't think much of the situation that first night and felt a bit used and abused, sook, sook, I just wanted to sleep in a comfy hotel room for a night! is that too much to ask!!! aparently so.

Arrival in Seoul

2007-03-02T16:33:00.000+09:00

8.35, Monday the 26th of Feb I touched down in Incheon international after departing Melbourne at 3ish the previous day. I physically felt fresher than i'd ever dreamed I would after a great flight from KL. Mentally I had some nagging thoughts about the possibility of visa trouble on entry as I was coming in this time empty handed so to speak requesting a 90 day tourist visa. All concerns were soon forgotten as I breazed through customs, Immigration, bagagge collection and off to the world outside the controlled environs of the international section of the airport.
Upon exiting this area I was greeted by a very short very smiling young man dressed in a brown jacket bright red shirt and grey pants. He was also holding a plackard with my name on it. He introduced himself as Terry and proceeded to introduce four other equally young and equally smiling assistants who turned out to be university interns working for the company taking some time out from their heavy shedule to meet the smiling foreigner. All five greeted me shyly, solemly and were visibly relived when they had recited the sentence of greeeting they had taken so long to memorize.

Terry and one other stayed with me for the ride to Gimpo domestic airport, a 40 min trip. Seoul seemed very safe and welcoming that morning and I instantly felt myself get into the groove of the hussle and bussle of Korean conversation, commuting, cars and everyday life around which seemed to be going at break neck speed. Korea is chaos theory in action and on that morning in the eye of tghe storm i felt calm and prepared.
Terry and Sarah insisted on staying with me until my next flight at 2.45 which was still a while away and at 1.00 we went for a slap up lunch at an airport restaurant with none other than the head honcho of the CASA(Civil aviation and safety authority) who Terry knew worked in the control tower. I think it was a mixture of good hospitality and a desparate desire of all present to talk to a foreigner in English. By this stage I felt that 'first impressions" , which are very important in Korean society had well and truly been made and I was getting a bit tired of the constant company and luckily time was ticking away nicely. The overiding need at that time was swiftly becoming a hot shower and a comfy hotel bed anywhere. The Jeju flight was quick and 45min later I touched down and my hopes of floping into a comfortable bed to finish my journey quickly evaporated upon my arrival in Jeju-do.

Everything is different but still the same.

2007-03-02T15:32:00.000+09:00

I am pleased to report that I have arrived in Koreas safe and sound. Tha flight from Melbourne to KL took about 8 hours and arriving in KL felt familiar as it was the same place I had stopped over on the way over to Australia in January. KL International isn't too unique compared to the few other international terminals I have visited other than it being a Muslim country with many of the women sporting Hijabs and most itinerant workers looked to be Indian imigrants who had obviously immigrated to Malaysia for the chance of making some good cash to send back home. Most seem to be bathroom attendants or cleaners equally as proud of their position and responsibilities as any visiting businessman who creates the need for their work.
Security is tight with the military prominent at the various checkpoints. Customer service is forgotten by these folk with both male and female guards aggressively uniformed and armed with either pistol, machine gun and flak-jacket. The female guards, equally uniformed add a tightly wrapped hijab to their already menacing attire which makes them seem like a cross between a bank robber and a ghurka, the end result is quite unsettling and the idea of the many opportunities, albeit remote of others to meddle with my bag springs to the front of your mind and also the notion of 'did I remember to remove my nail clippers from my carry on luggage and are the prescriptiond drugs I have with me a trafficable narcotic according to them...
All these thoughts flood your mind as you make the walk of shame through the various check-ins.
I have never before, nor ever think I will ever in the future even entertain the thought of breaking any airport rule but the moment I walk to an airport checkin I feel as naughty as a school boy awaiting punnishment outside the principals office. I guess thats what they aim for, to deter even honest "gaad fearin" folk like me from doin anything stupid.
Anyway's, getting into KL was fine and because I had arrived at 8.45 I had plenty of time to kill until my 12.40am boarding call to Incheon. So the plan for the following four hours was in no particular order, get a feed, have a rest, find my departure gate and finally check out the massage room I had spied on my way over but never managed to visit.
This time would be different and the massage was the saviour and highlight of my trip over. I will never ever go without a mid flight massage again if I have the chance as the foot, calf, back, neck and head massage I got in KL was simply sensational. I paid $110 Malay dollars for the service and a 10 buck tip to the massuer, I have no idea what its worth in Aussie dollars other than money well spent. After selecting the desired service from a menu and paying the agreed sum I was ushered into a tranquil, dimly lit room with various big black armchairs and matching stools. After a brief wash of the feet in very recently boiling water I had to submit to the pleasure, pain and oftentimes the sickly delicious agony of the finest foot massage ever.
A half an hour later and both feet basking in afterglow it was my back, neck and shoulders chance to get similar treatment. Finally, refreshed rejuvinated and relaxed after a final cracking of nearly all vertibrae and neck like i'd only seen before on tv I said my goodbyes and walked out straight-up and feeling a million dollars.
My advice- if you ever have the time, need and inclination to get a genuine asian massage, do it, its a stitch in time.
After the massage I had a great feed at a 'Dome' cafe. All-Day Breakfast at 10.30pm washed down with a Chai latte did everything to the body that the massage had missed. I ordered the Big-Breakfast, not reallys ure what to expect and had to double-take when the waitress asked me if I wanted chicken or beef bacon with my breakfast? Of course, no pork in muslim countries..
The waitress. Hugh hefner would have gasped at the sight of her swanning amongst hijab clad, gun toting security guards and bespeckled overfed Europeans. She was a serene oasis of beauty and friendliness, not to mention a tiny physique which was doing its very best to burst through the tightest figure friendly mini and button bustimg top. I was interested in her from purely a anthrapological, sociological perspective of course and found her to be a fashion contradiction within the confines of a seemingly strict Muslim society. It didn't put me off my beef bacon nor could I see any other customers detered.
My flight from KL to Incheon was in 'Claytons' first class and I relished it to the point of even getting an hour or two of shut eye which served me very well for the 'Korean' survivor challenge I would be dished up on my arrival. Claytons, first class is the first row of economy, just after business class. No seats in front of you and at least two feet of space to stretch out. Another bit of travelers knowledge i'll never forget. Request the front row!

Relaxing-Tassie Style

2007-01-29T14:36:00.000+09:00

Due to the technological advancement restictions in place in Tasmania you won't see any photo's for a while. The dodgey dial-up i'm now using doesn't quite have the same horsepower as what i've become accustomed to in Korea. However the plus is, I don't have to put up with the unceasing sound of WW3 and chain smoking users in the pcbungs. Instead I have the sounds of the trees blowing in the wind and birds chirping away which is very nice.

This weekend was a long weekend in Oz with Friday, Saturday and Sunday off for Australia Day celebrations. Locally there were plenty of organised attractions with river festivals in Latrobe and the Sheffield Cup race meeting in Spreyton. A few big nights catching up with friends earlier for me, put pay to going and I engaged in another great Aussie tradition. That is, perching yourself on a comfy couch and watching the Aussie cricket side on TV pump the shit out of the hapless poms.

Yesterday was another good cricket watching spectacle in Perth with The Aussies making a record 340+ of their 50 overs only to see the Kiwi's come out and give it a shake, falling short only by 8 or 10 runs. So, i've got my dose of cricket for the summer and its nice to see the Aussies are in good nick coming into the world cup.

On Saturday I played a round of putt-putt with thg sexy-ex and ended up having a great night out with her, Brenden, Rachael, Swanky and Jacinta. I stayed over at the Morg's residence and caught up on all the local goss. Sadly, this is the summer for a couple more fallen soldiers to depart bachelorhood with Simon and Lesa tying the knot at the end of the month and Paul and Deb's Brazilian affair in March.

Not to mention my best pal's Lara and Dennis are now expecting, Kylie and Nathan are expecting, Monners and Doog's have just had theirs, which I haven't seen yet and I bumped into Michelle and Justin, my pal's from Campbell Town and she's just about to drop. So, surfice it to say Tassie is a very fertile zone at the moment, and for my own safety i'm lucky to be heading elsewhere soon.

If I do stay i'll definately be an unstoppable candidate at the next election as the amount of babies i've kissed in the past week is rediculous and it seems this strange phenomena is only going to get worse! Just-jokes, I'ts been awesome catching up with all these burgeoning families and its nice to see the changes that have taken place with the parents since their arrival and the kids growing up and developing in confidence and identity like; Brendan and Jodie's Ella and Sam and Michelle's Bella and Asha. An honourable mention goes to Fish and Kim who have sprouted three sprogs and they are all, Fisher included, one of the nicest families i've seen and if I was a young wipper snapper that would be the home for me.

However, i'm not a young wiper snapper any more although from time to time i'd like to be. The next week or so will be an interesting one on the job front as the irons I have placed in several fires are starting to bear fruit. I will possibly have a few options come my way in the next day or two. They are:

Plan A:
Jejudo Island Korea, Public School. I've secured a job and all i'm waiting on now is my visa to be given the okay, and i'm there. Sounds basic enough, but it all depends on whether my old kids club visa has been cancelled properly, if it has it will be plain sailing. also Jeju-do(the Hawaii of SKorea) is a different immigration province so it might work out. Basically, i've sent off all my documents last Wednesday and they should arrive in Korea tomorrow or the next day and I should know pretty soon after if i'm going to get the nod or not from immigration.

If that falls through PlanB is to go to Taiwan for a job there. Simmilar situation to Jeju-do, i've already got the job and to be honest they are expecting me on the 25th of Feb. Pretty much, same money, same deal as Korea, however i'd prefer the Korean gig as the location and the language is more preferable. Having said that i'm realistically expecting to end up in Taiwan as Korean Immigration could proove difficult. - time will tell.

PlanC appeared the other day in my inbox by way of an interview for an International School in Dubai. I thought without a CELTA i'd not really have much of a chance, but they'll call tomorrow afternoon and we'll see. Dubai would be great on many accounts, although location wise I really rate Jeju, Taiwan and Dubai equally, although I realise they are very different. The one big clincher for Dubai may be, and I will stress "may be". It may offer a better amount of 'Do-re-mi" which can make any location or environment infinitely more attractive. I don't know but usually if money isn't mentioned in Job ad's it means one of two things. Rediculously low or rediculously high. Dubai, being filthy rich, i'm hoping for the latter.

Plan D which will be my fall back scenario for the forseeable future, is to do a Cambridge University- Teaching English to Adults Course. (CELTA). This certificate is becoming, at least recommended for most decent jobs or, for many others it is the pre-requisite for even getting your toe in the door. Even my teaching degree is not quite enough in many cases.

It's a one month intensive course which takes place at about 200 locations around the world. The cost of the course ranges between 2 & 3k(aud) at various locations. The best deal i've come across is in Prague or Thailand through a mob called International House. There's another mob in Thailand who are simmilar, they're called ECC.

So, a CELTA seems to be the way of the future and I plan on getting on board as soon as is practical. In addition to looking good on the CV, I do know now, that there is a big difference in being able to speak english and being able to teach english. I think I make a reasonable teacher, but from time to time there are things which come up, that I just don't know or, situations where I can't explain why a particular sentence is wrong, or right, it just is.. So, I'd be quite happy to do the CELTA if plan ABC fall through.

This week I'll know about Korea, so I don't have long to wait. And Tassie's a great place to wait around, catch up with friends, get sunburnt and dose myself up on Mums home cooking :)

It's nearly the end of January, Phew.. What a month!

2007-01-26T20:25:00.000+09:00

This month has been a virtual roller coaster ride from go to whoa. It really has been plagued by issues at work which have finally come to a head and I ended up going through with my resignation as originally planned. In a nutshell the work situation went something like this:

Oct, 06
Tired of being shafted by the boss, I wrote down and gave a list of work issues I had to the boss and at the bottom of the list I wrote something like.. Im happy to negotiate on any of these points however if you dont want to negotiate anything I have to consider my options. Simply, if ya keep doin what ya doin, i'm outa here and here's fair warning.
Dec13, 06
Resignation day. They were completely taken off guard and begged me to reconsider. I said i'd given them ample time to change their ways but they had ignored my requests for change. Ohh..Oh dear... they said we want to talk now, you cant go... bla bla bla. They ended up givingme back my contract, change any thing they said, lets talk. They seem fair dinkum so I did. -bad mistake...
Dec14,06
I had a meeting with the boss and although I didn't get things all my way iagreed to stay on. Amongst other things two major changes came out of the meeting.
A: When the new teacher arrives you will get reduced teaching hours as we know you have always taught more than the other teachers and you are currently covering Carolines cvlasses too- Fair enough I thought and nice of them to recognise my efforts, I felt good about this.
B:My contract duration will be reduced from 12 months, finishing in July. To, finishing on the 28th of February. This is the end of the school calendar and the ideal time for the school to re-negotiate terms with me for a future 12 months or find another teacher to begin a new school year with the kids, minimum disruption basically. Also good for me because the public school and university jobs start on March the first and I could quite possibly be able to leave one job and walk into another. A fair deal all round I thought.
January5,07
A new year, a new foreign teacher had arived and a more manageable schedule for me! Yaaay!
Wrong! The fuckin shyster of a boss kept me on the long hours and instead of reducing them what did she do? Well i'm glad you asked.. She sacked Angela, the other foreign teacher from afternoon classes! Fuckin lyin beeyatch!!
January6,07
I deliver the ultimatum of the century. Either she signs and stamps a letter saying 'as of the 28th my contract is finished' or my original resignation stands. She refused.
She had absolutely no intention of letting me go come Feb, 28. She had the chance up until the 18th to sign the form and I would have rturned hapily. However she didn't and now it's see-ya-later Sam teacher.

So leaving Korea turned out to be a bit of a debacle. I really thought she'd sign and I waited up until the 17th before I packed my bags. And asked for my signed letter almost every second day since I gave her the ultimatum.

So, leaving was pretty hasty and sad because I have made some great friends during my stay there. Locals like Hyunmok and Jungeun, Troy & Rob in the apartment, Wendy and Rob in Wondung, the lovely and talented English roses of Kumdan Sargori. Not to mention Dave, Deb, Joe and the many others still in Korea who have made my stay memorable.

The weekend before I left I had the worst cold and had to pull acouple of days off. This turned out to be the straw that broke the camels back. As upon my return to work I was grilled by Irene who blatantly accused me of faking. I was properly crook, I had a doctors cert also to proove it but nooo, noo,no. Irene knew better.
Other than being called a liar to my face, what pissed me off most was that the second of the 2 days I took off was a trip with the kids to the snow!
A: anyone who has read this blog would know that I would have to be genuinely sick to stay away from a fun trip to the snow with the kids. And,
B: Who in their fuckin right mind goes for a trip to the snow while they have a bad cold.

So, I quickly decided that Irene's another fuckin beeaytch and if me leaving causes her some inconvenience well so be it! Every cloud has a silver lining.

Speaking of silver linings the flight back to Oz was much better than the one I had coming over to Korea. Leaving during the morning made a big difference. Also knowing ma was waiting at the airport ready to wisk me away to a hot shower and a fresh bed made all thge difference.

When I got into Melbourne airport I had some time to kill and I bumped into my auntie Leonie doing the same thing! She was on her way to Tassie for the bro's wedding too and as it turned out we ended up on the same flight back into Launceston! It was good to catch up with her and over the next few days thats all I have been doing. First it was Jake's bucks party on Friday night. Then the wedding on Saturday which was really nice! Jakes best man Peter, who I'd never met befor gave without a doubt the best, best-man's speach I have ever heard. It had everything, laughs, advice, sincerity, seriousness and a piss take all in one. It was a highlight for me.

Jake asked me to MC the wedding earlier in the week and I quickly agreed but made him promise to give me really good instructions as I would be tired and I didn't wan't to be thinking on my feet because I might be found wanting.

The reception started at six, and true to his word Jake provided instructions conveniently at five minutes to.... Not only wer the instructions late they were... er ..how would you say.... um brief! The first two lines of the total of seven read something like this: line1, introduce yourself and welcome guests. Line 2, Explain proceedings.

I had to laugh at this point because this is Jake to a t!
"Jake.." I say..., 'explain proceedings', 'I don't know the *#!@ proceedings!!!
Anyway, the rest is history, I ended up doing a reasonable job and like all good entertainers I left the audience wanting less...

The last few days have been; R&R, catching up with friends, trying to sort out a new job or celta course somewhere and juggleing the plane ticket's I now find my self with as a result of pulling the pin on kids club.

Things are now starting to sort themselves out and my next message will hopefully have a new announcement about the next leg of my "southern sojourn!"

P.s. A big hello to Rob, Wendy and Deb who I didn't get a chance to say good bye to, sorry guys, I hope your Korean adventure is going well and continues to do so :)

If you were in Korea you'd be 26!! Happy Birthday :)

2007-01-04T22:42:00.000+09:00

Happy Birthday sis,aunt & missus to be..
Enjoy your 26th Year!!!

It's 2007!!!! Happy New Year !!!

2006-12-31T22:52:00.000+09:00

So soon, I remember clearly the year 2000 was such a big deal at the time and it only seems like yesterday. I was a really slack bastard last night and didn't do anything special at all. There was a get together on in Bupyong but after 2 nights in a row on the gas I didnt feel like braving the arctic temperatures of late and decided to stay at home and be a net nerd instead.

Hope everyone in OZ or over here managed to stay safe over the period and had copious amounts of the amber fluid in my absence.

Other than last night I have been making the most of my winter vacation (5 days!!). I went to Insadong on Thursday with Hyunmok which is a traditional market area north of the city in the hunt for a bargain or two. Sadly there wasn't much special on offer other than the usual tourist pish. We did however have some nice tea at traditional tea house which was decorated like wild kingdom. Plants and water features were everywhere and comfy chairs, which are not at all common over here. After shopping some more and being thorouly entertained by some street vendors doing amazing things with honey and flour. I got it on video but blogger don't like vid's at the mo...

We also discovered an awesome Mundoo dumpling restaurant which helped fortify us after walking the streets for two or three hours. Mundoo is basically steamed dimsims. I must confess steamed dim sims from 'the bainmarie of death' at any 24hour servo was my drunken,4am food of choice in oz and over here although not drunk they are especially good.

On the way home we came across an Andy Warhol art exhibition and it was great to see some of the artworks I had studied during my uni days and also some Korean take offs.

Friday night I caught up with Troy and his Nobuoy his Japanese girlfriend who had just arrived in Seoul for a week or so from Tokyo. And last night, a quiet night with Deb in Bupyong, having my monthly fix of butter chicken and naan bread from our favourite Nepalese restaurant turned into quite a late one after stopping in at her local, "goose goose" an American bar for an ale or three!!!

So in conclusion NYE celebrations have not continued in the exciting fashion 2006 was nor what I hope 2007 will be. I'm just catching my breath before the fun begins back in oz on the 18th and I still dont know what i'll be doing after the 28th of Feb... Whatever! these things have got a way of sorting themselves out. I got a job offer in Seoul on Thursday for slightly more money than i'm on, in a nice area for 22 teaching hours per week which is pretty good. I've decided to cross my legs for the minute and hold out for something better. There is so many rumours of great jobs over here I'm just going to wait and see :)

A Cool Snap

2006-12-29T00:35:00.000+09:00

It's brass monkey weather today down to -12 and yaaay!!! a high of -3.
Freakin Cold!!!
Haven't had much snow lately in fact no moisture at all really. Weird thing for me to say I know, but i'm used to going out in the cold in Tassie, at least and feeling it damp underfoot, frosty, dewy. misty or something. Without the moisture the cold is somewhat bearable and although its the coldest weather i've experienced in measurement -12. I've definately felt colder at times in Tassie but thats usually when i've been caught without a coat or got wet.

I'm laughing at the cold over here; I have my new North Face Hymalaya Summit Series Down jacket which I love to bits. Jungeon and Hyunmok gave it to me for a gift for my birthday which was VERY generous of them. Also i'm sporting, not so sexy long johns, gloves, neck garter, beanie and gloves which are keeping me toasty. I can't wait for it to snow again as it doesn't seem fair to suffer this much cold without some nice snow as a reward.

7 day forecast for [Korea, South - INCHEON]
Date
28-DEC (Thu) low -12 high -3
29-DEC (Fri) -9 0
30-DEC (Sat) -4 4
31-DEC (Sun) -2 6
01-JAN (Mon) -2 9
02-JAN (Tue) 1 10
03-JAN (Wed) 0 9

Its a nice time to have time off for vacation (NOT!) might just settle in with a good book and a bottle of soju :)

007 Bond

2006-12-28T22:43:00.000+09:00

I just finished watching the latest Bond Flick. Not sure what to make of it but definately not like the Bond of old. I reckon another view is required as the pirated DVD I saw was grainy and the sound wasnt real good but at this stage I'm thinking its a flop, it tries to be a bit too serious and edgy and they should go back to the original formula.

I saw another movie a few days ago: Munich with Eric Bana as the lead. All about the Israeli response to the 1972 Munich Olyimpic massacre. Really good, long, action packed and thought provoking.

Thats all from John Michael-Housen for the moment :)...

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!

2006-12-28T20:20:00.000+09:00

T'was the night before christmas when all through the house. Not a creature was stiring not even a mouse.
The stockings were placed on the bedhead with care in the hope that St Nicholas soon would be there.....
I Can't remember all the rest but surfice it to say St Nic's anual job is not an easy one and i'm sure he's quietly thankful that many older children think he's a fairy tale.

At Kids Club santa visited early and as the token male on staff I was summoned to perform the ritual gift giving/pose for the camera ceremony at school. Unfortunately for Santa my Korean co-teachers have long stopped believing in santa and didn't ask to pose for a photo. T'was great fun however and I made sure a few idlers sqirmed when I asked them if they'ed been good? I gave a present to all the kids and here are a few of my favourite kids.

Of course I was away "shopping" during santas short but exhausting stay and thankfully these shots were taken of the big guy in action!

Firstly this is santa with Cupid! Kind of appropriate really; being named after a raindeer and all!

Amy
Angela
Jasmine
Albert
Pelle
Julia
Thomas (pronounced: Tomasah!!!-usually at high volume by Korean teachers.)
Cindy, Is Jasmine's sister and Sukyong's daughter. I teach Sukyong of a night at Kids Club. Sukyong's an absolute stunner who works waaay tooo hard! (I hope you read this :)) I actually gave Cindy her english name with the help of Caroline which was quite an honour. When we discussed names, Caroline and I tried to find something befitting this pint sized princess. Something girly and not too hard for the natives to understand and say. Interestingly that night Sukyong ernestly asked me: "What does the name Cindy mean?" Of course in Korea all names have meanings such as: Shining and beautiful, morning sunrise, all sweet and sugary.

Without battering an eyelid I replied: "You know the fairytale "Cinderella" shes named after her", I said.
This is Anthony, Lun Teacher's (Chinese Teacher) son.

Vicky is hiding somewhere between Santa's beard and a big gift.
Red Class
Blue Class
Pink Class ( Merry Christmas Caroline - they really, really miss you, at this stage you're still coming back... Rest assured they are doing fine and aparently another SAfa is enroute to KC to replace you. A girl this time. Hopefully she's got a soft spot for a slightly balding, over the hill Aussie bloke!!)
Purple Class ( Same goes with these)
Yellow Class
Ok... Now for the exiting news. On Sunday the 24th, Jenna, Cat, Emily and I rose bright and early and made our way to Sinchon to catch a shuttle bus to Bears Town Ski Resort.
Sadly after these picks were taken I got the red light of death on the camera and thats all she wrote....

More pictures of our boarding can be found on Jenna's Blog:www.etribes.com/thejourney , click on photo's and check out the snowboarding link.
Anyway, twas probably a blessing to be without my camera as i'm sure it would be equally battered and bruised as my body was after relentlessly getting up and falling down. I can say it was a day of "what if's"
The girls were politely impressed with my first dig or so they said. However getting up and off no problems only to find turning and stopping intime to dodge the thousands, nay, millions of people trying in vain to do similar feats down the hill was a bit frustrating and beyond me early on. It was really, really packed on the lesser slopes and thats no error.
Next time... and there will be a next time i'll make sure its not on a weekend and hopefully I'll be able to learn how to turn both ways rather than switching from natural to goofy to natural as I criss cross down the slope. I can honestly say about 75% of my tumbles were graceful and generally a bailout so I didnt crash through a native who were all smaller than me and in my way! On the upside, there was no call for embarrassment at any time due to the fact I had many friends around me suffering the same fall from grace.

The next day was Christmas day and I had a great time. Firstly I went to Rob and Wendy's in Wondung near my school for some early revelry complete with egg nog. Was very nice, and we sat around having lots of laughs especially when all nationalities racked their brains for the rudest and funniest christmas carols they could remember. Then, courtesy of http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kevin+bloody+wilson we sang our hearts out to the tunes of "Frosty the Yobbo", "Ho Ho Fucking Ho" and that all time classic "Santa Clause you C#*t wheres my fu#*ing bike?" There wasnt a dry eye in the house.
After Rob and Wendy's I left for the girls house for a fine slap up Christmas Dinner with all the trimmings.

Egg nogg's workin a treat!

I arrive at "The Hacienda 'O' English Roses" to find the girls hard at it in the kitchen. Unfortunately they were suffering no ill effects from the previous days exertions on the slopes and my complaints yielded little sympathy.
The festive mood was continued however by the consumption of copious ammounts of "Mulled Wine" A hot tea-like red wine brew simmilar to Sangria (Look it up Dad, tis good stuff) and a traditional winter Christmas drink in Pommyland.

So, I can honestly say Christmas in Korea was very memorable and lots of fun thanks to the girls and the crew at Rob and Wendy's. I

At the moment i'm on a 5 day break from school and am not sure how to spend NYEve. Many of the locals have taken off for longer holidays to different countries and i'm saving my pennies for the trip down under in a few weeks for Jake and Naomi's wedding. I think I'll just put the feelers out and see if I can find a crowd somewhere. Maybe I'll go back to Bears Creek I definately know there is a big fu#*ing crowd there, unfortunately they are usually in my way.

I miss cricket! "the crowd,the buzz,the atmosphere!"

2006-12-20T22:17:00.000+09:00

How fucking good is the Aussie cricket team!!! ???

A. Fucking Good!

B. Really Fucking Good!

C. Really, Really Fucking Good!!!!

D. All of the above.

Sadly, I have missed ALL the action and the CEO of Swanky Entertainment will be held to account during my trip back to oz.

I'm not ashamed to say; when I heard of Gilly's quick ton, Warnie's 599th and the Aussies 3 zip whitewash I got a little aroused...:))))

Great news from the ROK!!

2006-12-20T21:06:00.000+09:00

Caroline's last night in Komdun. There is a new watering hole which as you can see from the picture specialises in quality beverages!!

The December chill has hit and I'm loving it!! Last time I wrote I had a bit of a moan but things have improved since then; and a fresh dump of snow on Saturday night transformed Seoul into a fairyland. I've never seen snow like this before and although it hasn't snowed since, it is still thick on the ground as the temperature hasn't got back into positive figures, and the locals tell me that it probably won't for a while.

Koreans are different in many ways but one impressive tallent is their accurate weather predictions. During summer after 2 weeks of torrential rain I asked a few people when it was likely to end? Six days was the unamamous response.. Not, two weeks or a week or so or a few days. No.. six days and sure enough the taps were turned off. Durning Autum Hyunmok was in a panic about my lack of a winter coat. Next weekend, I said, I'll go shopping, She'll be right! No, she insisted It'l get too cold before that! sure enough a day or two later and wisely with a new coat the temp plummeted. A few other changes have been predicted and I can honestly say I haven't experienced "true four seasons" until I came here. The summers Hotttt!! the springs pleasant, Autum's an obvious cool change with different coloured leaves everywhere. Winter's just started and already it's snowed. The ice is thick on the ground which makes even walking around a dodgy excercise. I've hit the pavement once already. I' must admit it was quite graceful and thankfully at 11ish at night no-one saw!
These shots are from my rooftop on Sunday. I haven't been anywhere exciting for a while which is a bit of a bummer but I've needed to recharge the batteries a bit lately and the cold weather is a good enough excuse for bears to hibernate so who am I to argue!

I won't have to worry about the weather soon as i'm jetsetting back to Tas on the 18th for a 5 day jaunt for Jake's wedding. Cant wait to see every one and weddings are generally the best party opportunity I know.

Between now and then I have a long weekend for christmas which i'll be spending on a snowy slope somewhere with Jenna, Cat and Emily which I can't wait for if we ever get organised!!! WHERE ARE YOU CAROLINE!!! Hopefully we'll get a day or two snowboarding. Never done it but i'm sure there will be a hot tub or a sauna somewhere closeby to wear away any aches and pains I incur. Then I have our schools winter break (found out a week ago.....mmmm) from the 27th to the 3rd of Jan. I have no plans as yet and as I'll be saving my pennies for the trip back to oz later in the month I reckon I'll just jump on a train down to Busan as i'm yet to visit there. Other than Jeju Island which is further south that will just about cross all the places off the list in Korea I wanted to see.

Koreans don't celebrate Christmas to the extent we do however it still warrants a day off. Their main holiday is Chusok in September which was a non event for me as everything just shut up shop for four days. Having said that, I will be playing a very jolly St Nick for the kids on Friday and later that night i'm off to Wendy and Rob's for egg nog (which i've heard of but never seen or tried) and Christmas revelry, as I mentioned before i'll spend Christmas day with three lovely ladies so don't feel tooooo sorry for me!

Merry Christmas to all fellow cyber buddies, have fun, stay safe and i'll see you in the new year!

**NEWS FLASH** Sadly the Mayor of Hobart won't be on the docks over the newyears period due to having something else to do that day. Sqark, Swanky, Corky, Greencock, Boy,Witch, Weasel (you've still got my books!!-hope you enjoyed:)) will be without their local member in the Crown tent (remind the Squark where it is as I doubt he'd remember), however he will be in spirits somewhere....Happy New Year and remember.. "9th Island Pinot Noir is poisonous if consumed in large enough quantities!!!"

Swanky's Newsletter - 10

2006-12-09T19:50:00.000+09:00

news headlines

DATS RATED GREATEST OF ALL TIME
The impervious, immortal DATS netball team won last nights Division 2 Grand Final with ease, with the winning margin well over 15 goals by the final hooter. Seconds after the win John Howard rang the DATS skipper Kat Parker to congratulate the team and to reinforce the fact that is clear to everyone that this team is the best sporting team this country has ever produced.

The star studded crowd which exceeded capacity were a touch nervous at quarter time when the DATS lead by only one goal, but the crowds fears were soon put to rest as they soon displayed their hollywood style glitzy skills to overwhelm their hapless opponents. It is believed this star studded unit will again line up for more silverware in the up coming roster next January.

WEEKLY VOTES - S.P.R.O.G medal
3 - Lesa / Kat / Lozza / Sara / Jay
2 - Toby
1 - crowd

Leaderboard at the half way mark.
Voting will continue after the Xmas break.
kat - 13
jay - 10
boy - 9
lesa - 8
lozza - 7
diss - 6
sara - 6
toddy - 5
jodie - 4
jeevesy - 3
snowy - 2
swanky - 2
toby - 2
gurus dog - 1
crowd - 1
lisa - 0
greg - minus 2

Please note regular segments - Dear Swanky / Hot Goss / & the Great Parker Debate will continue after Xmas break.

BONUS ADDITION

HISTORY OF THE DATS AND ALL THE STATS AND PROFILES
The history of this dynasty dates way back to October 2006. During this historic period of time DATS founder Kat Parker aligned her fledgling team with the Rebel Empire which spawned the most powerful of teams. So powerful in fact that they have never been beaten and have won every trophy worth winning in the world of netball.

Little known fact is that the team is not named after loveable drunk father Greg "DATS" Doherty. It takes its name from Boy "genius" Claridge who put a lot of thought into the differences between males and females and thought for this mixed team to have complete harmony they must be joined as one and therefore were named - D#cks And T#ts (D.A.T's).

PROFILES
Kat Parker - Captain. Fearless leader who put the fear of God into her opponents.
Boy claridge - The human jumping jack. The team feeds of this super athletes energy.
Clint Distol - Mr.Reliable. Recovered from a sickening netball to the head midseason to star in defence.
Lesa Alexander - Recruited from South Africa. Has become one of the all time star shooters with limitless range.
Jay Morgan - easily won rookie of the year. A 20 year preseason proved vital and her courage was never questioned.
Sara Hess - Former Parrots super star had no problem fitting in to this line up. Expected to be named GK of the century.
Lozza Shultz - Recruited from the national team, mastered the Kim Cljsters splits and can play any position and dominate.
Swanky Morgan - teamed well with his fellow defenders.
Toddy Aidsclown - 10 foot tall unstoppable shooter. Hopefully he can stay with the DATS and not go to the country leagues for big coin.
Jodie gilmore - season cut short by injury and suspension. Is still viable force in league if her body excepts her paper mache legs and the ball comes to her, jodie does not come to the ball.

STATS
leaders>goals / percentage
Toddy 5495 ( 3.73%)
Lesa 128 ( 99.7%)
Lozza 128 ( 96.2%)

steals
boy 437
kat 28
Jay 24

rebounds out of defence
Sara 968
Swanky 423
Distol 28

dirty fouls
kat 35928460384565034

Well thats it until after Xmas. Hopefully see you all before Xmas and at the Taste of the World at Swanky pier. I would like to thank and wish my staff here at Swanky Media all the best over the festive period. So happy Xmas, Heath.

Opsoyo Caroline :(

2006-12-08T22:26:00.000+09:00

It's been a big week this week for an old geezer like me. I'm 30 now and i'm looking forward to a well deserved nana nap tomorrow after a week of big high's and big low's. As you can see I came off a great weekend which included: My birthday partie's and farewell doo for Caroline (who sadly left the bleak cold 'ol' Seoul yesterday bound for sunnier climes in New Zealand) and a day out in Itaewon on Sunday.

The week started off well with dinner out on Monday and Tuesday night saying final goodbye's and a bbq and beer guzzleing session at school on Wednesday night in Caroline's honour.
Angela and I helped her to the express bus stop yesterday afternoon and on the down side, unfortunately Seoul hasn't felt the same since...

Monthly reports were also due this week which have made things even busier although thankfully, i've stumbled across a great computer program which virtually does it all for you, which was lucky as I am currently suffering from a severe case of the C.B.F's.
With those completed today I began (under instructions from the boss) lying to all and sundry, including Caroline's class which I have inherited until a replacement can be found regarding Caroline's wherabouts and state of health. Disgusting really the kid's really love her and she wasn't allowed to say goodbye or tell anyone from the school in case parents complained and today I had to say she 'was sick'. What a load of bollocks!

She held a little class party yesterday and was made to say "it was her birthday..." Now writing this i'm wondering why we both took part in this conspirocy and it comes down to one thing. Money... we get paid nearly six weeks down the track and of course she wanted what was owed to her before leaving. Myself, i've got a timeline in mind and frankly don't want the hassle. The management here lie and /or misinform expertly and from time to time expect you to thank them for the privelige.
So... in a nutshell at the moment i'm a bit down, my gal pal's left me and i'm beginning to see things again here for what they really are. That is a business first, ie; looking good for the parents, education second and teachers somewhere in the neccessary evil colum. I knew that was the case from the start but in order to endure the long hours and broken promises i've put it out of my mind however it's front and centre at the moment and i'm thinking next week may be the time to do something about it and move on next month. I'm also definately week as piss lying, generally I don't lie because my memory is not that good and to be a good lier I reckon you always have to remember what you have said previously in order not to contradict yourself and to be honest I usually dont have the time or energy for it. Un fortunately at the moment i'm surrounded by experts!!!

There's plenty of work elsewhere and i'm beginning to think that 6 months here in the job is a reasonable time, not to mention a decent break would be nice!! Regardless, I think next week will be as good as any time to voice some concerns and maybe things could improve, but frankly I doubt it.

That being said, it's now the weekend and due to all the social activity recently I have become better aquainted with some of the foreign locals which is good coming upto Christmas. Also there are a few different things coming up in the pipeline which i'm pretty excited about. We haven't had any snow since my birthday but I'm hopeful of a trip to the snow over Christmas with the fabulous English trio of Jenna, Cat and Emily, plus there is an Australian Embassy party on the 17th which Aussie Deb is organising and Wendy and Rob texted me yesterday saying that they have bought a turkey and Christmas dinner is at their place, so things outside work are on the up and up and I hope they stay that way! :)

Finally some photos!!!

2006-12-05T22:03:00.000+09:00

Well it was halloween at school the other week and we all dressed up and went down the street trick or treating.

Caroline and Angela apply some duco.
Some days I wish I was In kinder...
Albert hates the camera. Mmmmm.. you know your'e in for a tough day when one of your co-teachers arrive wearing a 'little' red riding hood outfit which closely resembles a French maid...
Its a tough job but somebody's got to do it!!!

Ahh, Miss Corea.... Bit of a crush at present....pitty, no future in it me thinks.
My little superheroes.
This is Wendy (who is married to Canadian Rob) and Crissy at a Friday night blowout. They are becoming pretty frequent which isn't doing my braincells any favours.
Things got pretty messy from this point on, locals were offended, beer got thrown voices got raised. Just the usual when you join some people together with nothing in common but the english language.
Some more kiddies, NO they weren't out with us, just bloggers been an utter utter bastard with photos lately and i'm not taking any chances deleting it in case I wipe the lot.
Canadian Rob and I get a bit cudly. As I mentioned before the weather has dropped so its natural to snuggle up...

Introducing Chongun and Cupid, not his real name and baby, also a temporary name till I can remember it. Chongun takes an arvo lesson with me and she has in the past introduced me to Hyuanmok aka,Catherine. She's awesome, very friendly and completely generous in every way. I'm so happy to have developed a great friendship with her and Hyuanmok over the past months and hope to stay in touch into the future.
Cupid has issues smileing at the moment but we are working on it.
As you can see we have a way to go. He's young, he still has time...
Maybe the task is too much!!!
Ok... Last Thursday was my birthday and I got spoilt rotten. During school I had nothing but snack parties and games, also a traditional b'day lunch courtesy of Noona, my surrogate mummy ay school. After school I was surprised with another cake and a rendition of happy birthday. Thanks to all who emailed or slomailed or phoned. It was much appreciated. I'm 30 now and feel old and decrepid, but thats a story for another day.
Later that evening I had dinner downstairs with the pick of the locals plus Hyuanmok and Chongun who had a great time and I'm very proud of them as it's quite nerve racking for Koreans to go out with foreigners for the first time. I invited the teachers from school but they weren't game to come out. Seriously, regardless of how well they know us , deep down I think some Koreans regard foreigners as compleatly decadent. Which is not completely true.
Cake No.3, Cheese cake, absolutely delicious.
No comment..
Joe, Deb and Hyuanmok
Troy and Chongun
Troy hates cameras.
As do I. Recent phenomena: Koreans are complete posers both male and female without a hint of restraint. Basically if it reflects they will check themselves out in it, adjust if necessary compleatly devoid of selfconciousness.
Cake No.4, courtesy of Rob and Wendy who on friday night generously hosted a going away bash for Caroline and combined 30th for me. Thats right my gal pal is leaving on Thursday and i'll miss her heaps. She's been kind enough to leave me a few things, tv, table, washing liquid and a n extra student or two which I have picked up in the draft. All the best Caroline Korea wont be the same without you and certainly wouldnt have been as good if I hadn't met you. Good LucK!!

Meet; Jenna, Emily and Cat. Lovely local lasses from the mother country. They hate to party or go out so I was lucky to get a snap of these rare species in the wild!!

Disgraceful.... wish you were here Rexy!

Grey's the new black.
Went to Itaewon on Sunday for Carolines final Seoul sojourn and walked past this place... Really, someones pissing themselves laughing somewhere.
Tonight the school organised a going away dinner for Caroline and another b'day cake for Noona who's bday was today. Lots of food, some mekju and plenty of laughs.
Noona's awesome, cant't speak a word of english but runs rings around anyone else at the school when it comes to being welcoming and friendly. Has got a great sense of humour (shit stiring) and its people like here which make me want to learn to understand more Korean language as I reckon she'd be more of a crack up than she already is . Happy 21st Noona!!
Miss Lun, teaches Chinese, speaks Japanease, obviously Korean too. Not to mention she's managed to learn enough English since i've been at the school to hold complete conversations. In the heirachy of things at the school she dosent have much of a say, but behind this little grin is one of the smartest people i've met. Rediculous really. When I first arrived I saw her float by a bit and asked around what her name was? Chinease teacher, was the reply every where. No... Whats her real name I asked, I didnt feel comfortable calling her Chinese Teacher, how impersonal... The truth, they did not know!! At that stage she couldn't speak a word of english nor I Korean so after a bit of sign language Miss Lun appeared. Now she is called 'Lun teacher' by everybody which is much better. P.s. I still dont know the bus drivers name. " ajoshi" which translated is a universal word for an older male worker is all he is referred to as.

One quiet beer with Troy....

2006-11-26T16:08:00.000+09:00

Troy's in the back row, and he and I decided to stop by the restaurant downstairs for one quick beer. We were soon joined by Joe ( bottom right) and one led to two etc etc.

Joe had a couple of school pals drinking down the road and we decided to join them for one or two more. We picked up Rob along the way and by the time we left we were looking for a change of venue.

As luck woul have it, downstairs there was a pool hall and after cultural rules were established a 3 on 3 testmache was agreed upon. The loser to pay for the beer.

We were soon joined by Jenna, her friend Cat and Caroline who after having a girls night out, were craving some male bonding.

Very soon we all ended up in Joes apartment where too much beer was bought and even more consumed.

A quiet beer with Troy, be warned....

Winter's hit, and the skirts are shorter ? ?

2006-11-26T15:59:00.000+09:00

Far be it from me to complain about the fashion sense of the local lasses. On the contrary theres not much better than lovely local legs in sub zero temperature. How they do it is probably secret womens business however I think they work on the theory that if they look hot they feel hot.
Great stuff I think!!

I'm always keen on a free feed!

2006-11-26T15:49:00.000+09:00

I'm starting to develop quite a network of people who like to feed me which is quite good. I havent cooked for myself for over a month now and it suits me fine!!!

This is Chongin, she's one of my arvo students and good friend of Hyunmok who i've also been tutoring lately.

This is the foursome together, including Cupid (not his real name) at Chongin's place for dinner.

Its nice to be looked after and these two girls are really friendly and generous to me.

Friday Night Blowout

2006-11-26T15:42:00.000+09:00

A couple of weeks back Caroline, Rob and Wendy decided to check out a new bbq place. As it turned out some other locals had the same idea and it turned into quite a party...

Tassie's burnin up!!!

2006-10-25T22:24:00.000+09:00

I just saw this on the net and thought it looked quite impressive. Unless you're amongst it...

Swanky's Newsletter 4

2006-10-25T20:36:00.000+09:00

SHOW TIME IN TINSEL TOWN BUT NO POSH AND BECKS !!!

The all conquering dynasty DATS netball team continued on its march to the gloryland last night with a spice of razzle dazzle winning easily. This team is seemingly transcending the sports world as Spreyton Tip Rat Stadium appears to be the place to be on a Tuesday night, as it was filled with celebrities turning out to watch "Kats Invincibles of 06". The only lowlight on a grand night was the non appearance of Spreyton royalty Poshand Becks Doherty, who were rumoured to be travelling to the game in a golf cart.

Highlights were plentiful, but the return of former Parrots superstar Sara Hess warmed the hearts of supporters. The DATS even had the luxury of giving All Australians Lozza and Lesa the night off. Only one minor scare off the court was the news that inform WD Clint Distol was involved in a bar fight with his own dog and Gurus over a scrap of food. Apparently ugly scenes hours before the big game cost Diss his position in the team as Gurus dog had to drive Clint out to hospital after Distal and his own dog were involved in a bite off. Hopefully Diss will be available to play next week despite the amputation of his right arm up to his elbow.The spiritless drones known as the Rebel-cobras touch team, have the bye this week amid speculation that the board may be overthrown, as it's unacceptable that they dont win every game they play ! stay tuned to 7AD for breaking developments on that story.

WEEKLY VOTES
We have finally come up with a fitting name for this years best sportsperson. Over this Summer the athletes from the DATS and Rebel-Cobras will be competing for the "Sacred Pig Reeves Oldmans Gallantry Medal" or better known as the "S.P.R.O.G" medal. I think a fitting reference to Pig Reeves Oldman who helped mould us in to the fine up standing people we are today except Parker.

3 - Kat
2 - Jodie
1 - Gurus Dog

Leaderboard
6 - Distol
4 - Kat / Jodie
3 - Toddy / Jacinta

DEAR SWANKY
I have just come home from a players trip and feel like its all I wanna doin life now, how do I tell my wife and child this is the new me ? And being sober is for loosers !
Todd

Well Todd from Tasmania this will be an easy one this week. Todd you are the dominate male so therefore anything you say to your family must be obeyed. So first grab another beer from the fridge, better yet tell your missus to get you one then simply inform them with a stern voice that you will be going on the C bus for a period of time and that you'll be back when you feel like it. Sober is for losers, as most of my mates are better blokes when I have had a couple. I hope this helps.

PLAYER PROFILE
name - Stuart Claridge
team - DATS & Rebel-Cobras

likes - black yawns at night clubs and Todds couch. And building 7 storeyhigh houses
dislikes - tarps
idol - his red brother Nathan

LATEST GOSS
Sorry to say my legal team led by Greg Richardson was high late last week and couldnt find a legal loophole. So we were beaten out by Today Tonight in breaking the super news that Kylie and Nathan will be having a baby.

So this weeks Readers Poll question is an easy one -
who out of Greg doherty and Nathan Parker is less likely to succeed as a father ?
Countdown is also on for little Dats to make his/her appearance.
Many believe little Dats will come out with a can of ron in his / her hand.

500 km in 14 hrs Korean style.

2006-10-22T23:44:00.000+09:00

After dinner Friday night with Jenna, an English girl and Caroline I decided to get to bed early and make a break for the east coast. Sokcho in particular, the Lonely planet gave it a big rap and also there's the Saroksan national park which is allegedly the jewell in the crown of Korean wilderness.
Arrival in Sokcho reminded me of travelling to Burnie from Dever's, the road winds its way around a rocky coast before entering a port town of about 90 thousand, very simmilar apart from the everpresent razor wire preventing access to most parts of the coast. Its far east but the closest major metro to the eastern/north border.
I arrived at the express bus terminal and had to catch another bus to the cbd where I intended to get a room for the night.
I got on the right bus but instead of heading north which would have suited me it went south. I decided to stay on and check out more of the coast and see where it ended up. I got off at Yangyang after about 15 min and wandered the 250m of alleys to the coast where I found to my delight a 'Salmon Festival'!! Yay... more culture and stuff... I Stayed long enough to do a full curcuit of the fairground and soak up some traditional dance- which was quite good, a bit more up tempo compared with the torture at the temple!
A stones throw away I discovered a rare sight. Damed saltwater pools were filled to the brim with massive salmon. 'Sporting' fishermen were mingling close by and I did laugh when I heard one say; 'Where's Rexy!!'. Anyway after checking out the salmon for a while caught the return bus and checked out Sockcho.

It's a bustleing place and for the first time since my arrival I felt the need to look over my shoulder a bit. Typical port town atmosphere I suppose, this one services Russia, Japan and parts of China. I was pretty exhausted by this stage and wanted to find a hotel, have an hours kip and then grab some dinner. The motel was a dive but clean and after a rest I checked out Saturday night in Sokcho...
By eight the main drag and harbour looked quite friendly however after a meal wandering through the markets and past the bars I got the distinct impression I was standing out from the crowd and not in the usual way where i'm asked to pose for photo's...
By about ten the streets were devoid of families and after a while I realised I hadn't seen a cop for a while which is also unusual as they are usually everywhere... Groups of people hung out on steet corners, off duty soldiers were milling about drunk which I thought was not allowed in uniform, but this was Sokcho. And... hookers and pimps everywhere!!! I'm very well aware by now of the brothels/"barber shops" on every street throughout Korea. They are literally everywhere and never mentioned by the natives. But i've never seen it flaunted so openly. Yes, I know what you're thinking, Sammy stumbled into the red light district, and you're probably right but the whole of Sokcho seemed the same after dark.
No sampling of the forbidden fruits for Sammy, I had an early start in the morning. I wanted to head back to Seoul via a small town called Inje. Supposedly the adventure sports mecca of Korea and equal to to anywhere else on the planet. On the way to Inje I went through Saroksan Nat Park which was very impressive and high...
The colours of Autum are pretty and I started to feel this trip was beginning to be worth the effort as this park had everything an alpine area should.
After another bus change I arrived in Inje in time for some 'Bungee for breakfast!!' Caroline has told me that she's doing a cocktail tour of the world and I've decided to do a bungee worl tour!! This 63m beautie was all mine at 9.30am and after a 2 min weigh-in I was lifted to the top. There was no time or linguistc ability for small talk with the operator and very soon I was given the countdown. Hana, Dul, Set-BUNGEEEEE!!!
Fucking awesome!!! Just what I needed to clear the cobwebs. Sorry no photo's this time and although I heard my screams echo throughout the valley I dont think any one heard me scream. Afterwards I took stock of the situation and realised that being asked to 'tighten up my shoes', was a bit weird prior to jumping- at the time I didn't care and probably a good thing. If they were relying on my slipons saving me I was in trouble. Ahh hindsight, maybe its just as well I don't have it.
I got a nice certificate to go and managed to score a lift to the express bus stop by the operator. As I said before 'This was MY bungee' today no one else was in sight and Inje itself was like a ghost town.

The bus left Inje at 10.30 and 160km and 5.5 hours later I arrived back home where I instantly became 'one with the bed'.

Swanky's Newsletter 3

2006-10-19T13:57:00.000+09:00

NORTH WEST SPORTS FANS RIDE ROLLER-COASTERDATS INVINCIBLE

Dynasty is a word that is bantered around far to much these days, but it iseasy to see why the DATS netball team is compared to Bradmans invinciblesof 1929 and Ruths Yankees of 1938. This team is star studded. Everyone was on top of their game on Tuesday as they clubbed the meercats to death withpower and precision. Shooters Ashdown and Lozza toyed with their opponents. Boy, Kat and Distol darted around the court like they were on rock meth. Star rookie Jay Morgan showed everyone she is clearly the Associationsrookie of the year, putting her good form down to her 20 year preseason. Jodie once again showed grit and toughness. Jodie hit the cement, only torise to the occasion and continue with a broken leg, dislocated cranium andbroken vertebra.

LACKLUSTER DISPLAY BY REBEL-COBRAS

The Rebel-Cobras went down in Touch last night 4 - 2 to a bunch ofupstarts. Lacking player depth due to various no shows. Ashdown had theonly plausible excuse as went to Hobart trying to continue his playerstrip, he had no comment to make from the Mens Gallery last night. Nocomment from Coach Lisa last night either as she and others did not attendthis important game as they couldnt be stuffed !!! Captain Doherty had tocome to Swankys defence due to a rule dispute with the official. Greg andref Spinks were involved in a face to face verbal stosh that looked likegetting out of hand. Memories of Gregs ugly encounter with a vendingmachine come flooding back but luckily the situation was disfused. The onlyhighlight was the form of Distol, whom was cruelly denied a hat trick by acheating little kid whom called touch when clearly distol had made a cleanintercept and was headed for the red zone unabated.
WEEKLY VOTES
3 - Distol
2 - Jodie
1 - Jacinta
minus 1 - Coach Lisa

READERS POLL
Will continue the poll for a name for the medal another week. Ray JamesMedal and the Nathan Parker Medal is all we have at present. Please let meknow if you can come up with a better Medal name.

DEAR SWANKY
I am from Brasil and on a recent trip to Tasmania, with my fiancee I came across a guy with red hair and a big nose, he bought me a drink but I couldnt understand a word he was saying. Do Tasmanians speak any otherlanguages other then English? Or is this gentleman a bit retarded becausehe did look a bit mongoloid ?

Miss D.A -
well Miss D, firstly on behalf of Australia we apologize for yourharrying experience with this crazed individual. Here in Tasmania we onlyspeak two languages English and Chewbacca. The gentleman you have comeacross is from the Red-bacca species which speak Chewbacca fluently,however please in future be very careful approaching this wookie /orangutan / man as he can omit a vile smell of garlic and has been known tobore people to death on players trips.

LATEST GOSS ( looking for a career change ? become a snitch and tell SwankyMedia the latest on line now )
Due to legal reasons unable to print the latest news from the Coast, staytuned for more next week as hopefully our legal team will find a loop holein this story soon.

Weekly Round up.

2006-10-16T20:29:00.000+09:00

The jarheads roll on

Not the best view first thing in the morning
Typical hazy day on the peninsula
Joe, Me and Aussie Deb soak up the serenity...

Mmmm...
The museum on the first stop

Second stop the temple, I think this was the east gate.

Very soon we were heading up,

and up,

and up,

after a brief sermon on enlightenment we headed down,
and down
and down,
Yaay, at this stage the seasoned athletes were ready for a free feed.

As they say in the classics 'theres no such thing as a free lunch' and the following was more gruelling than any hill climb. Two hours of inceasing moaning and wailing by various colourful crones, occasionally broken up by a person or two who tried to learn to tune the instrument on the fly. While at the same time sitting cross legged and trying to fight the urge to leave.

These guys were charisma personified, NOT!!!
Don't be fooled by this fella's smile he was the worst torturer of the lot, bastard. It reminded me of some of the rubbish my parents made me endure in the name of cultural education. I remember their words well "when youre old enough you can make you're own decisions on what you see..." Well mum & dad I would have got up and left after the first salvo but according to recent news reports about the very same monks rioting last week I put up with it. You must be soooo proud!!
Third stop, I forgot about was another old fortress type place. Probably the most relaxing of the lot.

Deb and I get a bit Zen.
Where's Russell when you need him?

On Sunday on my way into the 2002 World Cup Stadium to meet Cath Aka. Hyunmok I saw this huge...well..spurt of water coming out of the Han river. Turns out its the worlds highest!! Very impressive, gets towed around for all sorts of weddings, parties... Personally I think the government could spend their money on something better like... garbage collection perhaps?
These "ants" climbing up the hill are people relaxing on a Sunday! A country of fanatics, I'm sure they are all sporting the latest in hiking wear.
This is the park next to the stadium and in the distance the "ants" can be seen on the sugar trail.

Anyway the master instructor had a lesson to teach
Afterwards Hyunmok and I went to a cosy little Italian restaurant in trendy 'Hongdae', Pizza, Lasagne, Guiness and propper coffee were on the menu.

I've been a bit bored at work lately so i've decided to spice things up a bit by letting the boss know i'm ready to give notice pretty soon. The tension can be cut with a knife at the moment, but you get that when you give someone a contract to teach 30 hours a week and expect them to do 40+!! And be happy about it...

Not to mention, no health ins, o-time pay etc.... Anyway, I made it clear my gripe was with the boss & not anyone else, which put a smile on the Korean teachers dials again.

I have an interview over the phone tomorrow for the Emirates job and also there is a mob in Taiwan who are expecting me to lob into Taipei at the end of the month so i've got a nice safety net if things go pear shape. Exciting times!!, I love a bit of drama!!!

Last week I was a social butterfly. Out to Indian with Cariline and Angela on Wednesday, Thursday night with Catherine who has kindly organised a phone for me and Friday night went out for BBQ with Canadian Rob & Wendy and got extremely messy.

Caroline has been in touch with a group in Seoul who are in cahoots with Korean Tourism (the guy next to me is slurping his noodles way too energetically for my liking, he should be finished soon...) and they run a free bus tour each month for foreigners out of Seoul.

We had signed up for an overnight temple stay at a buddist monestry, very zen I had thought until it was reported nationally that two rival monestrys were physically fighting each other over something or another. Just the opposite to what we expected , but we're in the country of fanatics, anything they do they do with obsessive compulsion. It turned out it was where we were sheduled to stay and what they were fighting over was who was to recieve the money from the tourism department for our very stay!!!

So.. the trip was re-arranged to be just a day on Gangwa Island visiting several monestrys there. Gangwa is the same place Sunbong and his brother decided wasn't good enough for our fishing talents on the day of our epic/fuckin boring fishing day.

We left Seoul central at eight. American Joe, Aussie Deb, Caroline and myself were on the bus and it took us about an hour to get to the first place. Along the way, as the army is now massing on the border, a convoy of tanks rolled past which is definately a bit disconcerting. However we arrived in one piece to a lookout/fortress/museum of sorts. Not bad, kind of relaxing, but I was majorly hung over and there wasn't a hair of the dog in sight. Mmm it was going to be a long day...

Next and final stop was the main monestry/ ancient village and forest mountain area. After a brief briefing we started to climb up... I wished I had packed my spare head as the one I was wearing was starting to crack under the pressure. The pictures tell the story.

The trip home was in gridlock and it took the bus four hours to cover the 50k home! Sunday was a good day spent with Hyunmok at the WC Stadium park. It's a top place which i'll definately visit again in more detail. Later on we had Italian which was my first bit of 'Western " food since coming over. Expensive, but money well spent, t'was delicious!!

Swanky's Newsletter Volume 2

2006-10-16T20:08:00.000+09:00

SUPER ATHLETES ON THE ROAD TO GLORY

Its an early call but it would seem the Rebel Franchise offspring lookheaded for big celebrations this season. DATS netball team crushed theirhelpless opponents. Although their use of brute force may cost them at thetribunal. Jodie, Distol will appear on charging reports while Boy and Katwill have to front the panel on striking charges ( striking each other )stay tuned to WIN news for the latest developments as none of those chargedtook set penalties. Clearly they are the team to beat with stars in everyposition. It appears only a matter of time before they start playing theirmuch awaited brand of netball called show time. It appears that Spreyton isthe place to be on a Tuesday night as Posh and Becks Doherty were spottedin the crowd with other cling ons.

In other news the Rebel Cobras are poised for greatness, winning 6 - 2. Itappears now that the Rebel Cobras are looking good that Captain - CoachGreg Doherty wants back in the team. It seems Greg is now being calledCaptain Grumpy after a verbal altercation with the umpire. Snow scored 3times, Swankys try reminded many of a mix between Lotty Tuquire and JonahLomu while the only concern is the form or lack of it of Distol. The Pistolwas frozen on his wing with a chubby when he spotted a good lookinglesbian. Distol had to leave the ground with a jumper tied around his waistsaying it should never have happened.

WEEKLY VOTES
3 - Ashdown
2 - snowy
1 - Kat

REBEL NEWS
proposed Rebel trip is Jan 13 & 14, which will include the VB game betweenAUS v NZL. Feedback is welcome on this.

READERS POLLwhy is Nathan not playing any sport this summer ? we have had an amazingresponse and the best came from Mr. X - from Melbourne
- Nathan isnt playing sport this summer is because he is as weak as pisshis girlfriend wont let him, he might as well curl up into a ball and die!!

This weeks comp is to come up with the best name for our B & F medal. Thebest response wins a mega Rebel pack normally only available at side showalley at the Show !!!

DEAR SWANKY
The dear Swanky lines are now open any problems or you just want to ventsome anger please write in and we will solve your worries.

Dear SwankyI have just come home from a players trip and feel like its all I wanna doin life now, how do I tell my wife and child this is the new me? And beingsober is for looser's!
Todd

Best laugh i've had in ages.. DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR!!!

2006-10-09T22:05:00.000+09:00

I clicked on this today and really lost it.

If you haven't watched "the chasers war on everything" click on the link below and then "play". Check out the latest one on "Airport PickUps", the best one so far and "Carlton flight 93" a moving tribute to David Boon's staying power.

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/chaser/war/video/default.htm
P.S. I get a new mobile tomorrow, feel free to try it out!!

Sam's new number : (int. connect. +) 010 9470 3011

Bon appetit

2006-10-09T14:07:00.000+09:00

NORTH KOREA TESTS NUCLEAR BOMB

9.10.2006. 14:39:45

Defying worldwide appeals and threats of sanctions, North Korea on announced it had carried out its first nuclear weapons test, calling it a "historic event." The communist state's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the underground test was carried out safely and successfully and there was no radiation leak. A South Korean defence ministry official quoted by Yonhap news agency said the test was carried out at Hwadaeri near Kilju on North Korea's northeast coast at 10:36 am (0136 GMT). There was no immediate official confirmation in the South of the test.

But the presidential office said the state intelligence agency had detected a 3.58 magnitude seismic tremor in North Hamgyong Province, where Kilju is located. However the US Geological Survey has thrown that claim into doubt, saying there have been no such tremors in the area over the past 48 hours. China joins condemnation China condemned Pyongyang for "brazenly" carrying out the test, expressing hope Pyongyang will return to six-nation disarmament talks. The Chinese foreign ministry says upholding the stability of northeast Asia is in the interests of all parties.

The test took place around the time Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in Seoul for talks on handling the nuclear crisis and just three days after a UN Security Council statement was issued against North Korea. The council unanimously adopted a non-binding statement that urged the North to drop plans for a test and to return to six-party disarmament talks. South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun immediately called an emergency ministerial meeting to discuss countermeasures. Mountain test speculation The test is believed to have been conducted in a horizontal tunnel, a lawmaker quoted intelligence officials as saying. The officials told parliament it appeared to have been conducted in a 360-metre mountain north-west of its Musudanri missile base in Hwadaeri. Parliamentarian Chung Hyong-Keun quoted an intelligence official as saying: "In consideration of the height of the mountain, the test appeared to have been done in a horizontal tunnel."

North Korean statement Official media agency KCNA issued a brief statement announcing the nuclear test. "The nuclear test was conducted with indigenous wisdom and technology, 100 percent. "It marks a historic event as it greatly encouraged and pleased the KPA (North Korean army) and people that have wished to have powerful self-reliant defence capability. The South Korean military has since raised its vigilance along the border with North Korea.

Happy Birthday Daddy ! ! !

2006-10-08T21:43:00.000+09:00

Dear Daddy,

Wishing you a happy birthday, another year older and hopefully a bit wiser!!
Manny happy returns for the day.

Love, Sammy x x x

another hit from the "bong"....

2006-10-08T20:25:00.000+09:00

Firstly, i'd like to introduce Catherine!!

She's my studious english student and we've had some good lessons and some fine feeds lately. We had just gone onto the roof to watch the sunset, very spectacular and necessary to her linguistic skills.

Last night I took another "hit from the bong", Sunbong, that is... He's an animal on the sip and last night was no exception. He'd just recieved news that his son, who's in the Australian army is off to Iraq for a tour. Big news in the Lee house and i'm sure he had to settle a few nerves with a bit of the amber fluid.

Today with bleary eyes we took Catherine to see North Korea for the first time at the Udosan Unification Observatory.

As you can see the visibility was poor but across the water NK is 450m away at its closest point.

On arrival the noise was deafening as Korea's about to have a national drum festival and these wirling durbisher type women constantly jirated along with the beat.

Here's yours truly with NK in the background. There's trouble afoot here with NK's thretened tests and as recently as yesterday warning shots were fired across the dmz by the SK's as some NK's had overstepped a boundary somewhere.

Catherine and Sunbong strike a pose.

Outside the Odusan observatory

The Freedom Road/Unification Expressway.... Doesn't look too unified or free to me!!

Ok... Big news, i've started to look elsewhere for a job. Less hours basically, too tired during the week.

During my search I stumbled on a Griffith University position advertised in Dubai. I sent them a resume and I've got a phone interview later on this week when we can sort a time.
Sounds like a good deal on all fronts and its starting to cool off big time here, and its always nice to chase the sun.

As always i'll keep you posted.

Swankys Newsletter vol 1 - Summer Edition

2006-10-06T23:45:00.000+09:00

ITS BACK !!!!!

Yes you have a reason to live.
Yes you can wipe your weeping eyes, as the Swanky Newsletter is back for Summer 06/07. We here at Swanky Media will cover all the big sports this Summer. And what a line up we have for you. We will continue to keep you updated with the latest news from the Rebel basketball Dynasty as they endure one of their toughest off seasons, plus all the trades and news on their players trip.
But theres more, yes we will bring to you the best in local sport from the Netball court to the Touch football ground and everything in between. so take a deep breath and prepare yourself for a major dose of entertainment.

DATS CRUSH MIDGET CHILDREN
The newly formed D.A.T.S ( ask Claridge what it stands for ) netball team got off to a flyer. Lesa and Lozza were unstoppable in front of goal while Kat Parker used brute force in defense. Toddy showed he had lost nothing ( helps when your as tall as the goal posts). But the real star was the rookie of the team Jay Morgan. J toyed with the defense showing her extensive preseason will pay off. But surely their opponents need to have a look at themselves !!! Whats happen to the youth of today ? These kids were no taller then 3 foot ( too much playstaion and junkfood I say ).

TOUCH TURNS UGLY
The newly formed Rebel - Cobras ??? showed all the potential of being a powerhouse in the B division this year. Knowing the rules is always a bonus which explains the 3 - 1 deficit at half time. But the boys came steaming home only to fail 4 - 3. The boys were rocked by the news that captain - coach Greg Doherty snubbed his nose at the team before running onto the>pitch, but such is the demand to coach this crack unit that Lisa Doherty is now head coach ( which may require an ambulance in the car park in the coming weeks ).
The club already has a strong fan base and a mascot in Trey ( anyone whom can help with a costume for Trey please contact Swanky Media ). The only low light was Distols bone crushing hit on his wimpy spaghetti armed opponent ( or was this a highlight ??? ).

WEEKLY VOTES ( need a name for this summers medal ?????? )
3 - Distol
2 - Jacinta
1 - Lesa
minus 1 - Greg Doherty

REBEL NEWS
nothing .........

READERS POLL
Why is Nathan not playing any sport this summer ? best answer wins a framed
and signed picture of Nathan looking like Vincent from Beauty and the Beast
from last weeks Beerlow comp.

other segments
DEAR SWANKY - write in and have your letter published.
PLAYER PROFILES - coming soon.
LATEST GOSS - we will print anything here at Swanky Media.

Swankys Grand Final Review 2006

2006-10-06T23:33:00.000+09:00

ONE OF THE GREAT GRAND FINALS>

For sheer entertainment value this years Grand Final rates in the top 3.
Some would argue that the inaugural 1993 GF doo at the 'Mecca' of piss ups; "Coys Rumpus," is untouchable in so many ways. Who could ever forget 'Pig Reeves's' old man's famous words: "coach ya's all me life and ya's go and do this to me!!" As he sported a tennis ball sized egg on his cranium, those words will echo forever more as long as there is a GF piss up. But alas this year had all the makings of a classic day. However AFL boss Andrew Demetriou has already stated that the AFL will be investigating several incidents that occurred during the afternoon and evening of the 30th of September 2006. Reports continue to filter in and believe it or not 99% of what is reported is factual.

PARKER BOYS TRY AND RUIN THE BIG DAY

Not only is AFL guru Andrew Demetriou investigating 2 major incidents, but it is believed that Inspector Dean may also become involved as criminal charges may be laid over the following. Kick to kick to decide the Beerlow was hard and tough as per every year, but this year it turned horribly wrong. With the votes locked going into the last kick of the day - Stuart Claridge going for back to back Beerlows took a screamer, only to miss out on the medal as it had to be awarded to Nathan Parker.

Parker on hands and knees crawled to the sidelines like a mauled deer attempting to survive a vicious lion attack. With blood streaming from his hairy nostrils like a tap he screamed "dont let the kids see this!" Which is ironic, as the kids found it clearly amusing. During his attempt to mark, Nathan received a momentous blow to the snoze. It blew out over his face to make him look like Vincent from Beauty and Beast. After a couple more beer bongs he was whisked away home via KFC where apparently concussed he continually screamed for "Adrain...." Not even Osama has claimed responsibility for the biggest hit since Willet broke his collar bone.

Incident 2 is even more disturbing. As Norm Pisshead winner Stuart Claridge took to the crowd in a violent and disturbing attack. Reports are sketchy on this one with one eye witness saying after turning a table upside down the angry boy then jumped through the tarp like the incredible hulk on acid only to be restrained and then medicated. The memorable moments continued on during the course of the day. With the kids given free range to repaint the interior of the house by father of the year T.Ashdown. They even repainted the carpet in a determined and inspiring job. Toddy also entertained the crowd with a couple of nudey runs. There was also a spectacular fire works display by Burbs titled "the flaming mangina".

And another highlight for the masses was the return to Tasmania for a short promotional visit from London, "Dazzling Deano Hulsman." Whom it appears has picked an accent. Not an English accent but actually a French accent as every second word was an F word. Some were worried that when Swanky Entertainment relinquished the rights to GF day that it would be like the Fox empire handing the rights to SBS, but Todd and Jodie have done a tremendous job in making tarp city and entertaining the huge throng of spectators. oh by the way great game too.

Happy Chusok Y'all !!

2006-10-06T21:40:00.000+09:00

Well Chusok has arrived and not before time. For those of you who say what..? Chew Socks! Think again you philistines..

Chusok is the Korean version of thanksgiving, which is bigger than Christmas over here. I'm halfway through a 4 day break and the whole country has shut down. There's an eirie calm about everywhere, 8 lane roads are jwalkable and most shops are shut. Thankfully i've been busy entertaining a guest the last few days which has been quite enjoyable. She Ryu, aka Cath, requires some extra special english tuition and as luck would have it i'm available!!

Anyway, last weekend deserves an honerable mention first. Friday night, the corner chiken joint hosted a get together of 10 or so foreign teachers. Most have played cameo roles in this site already however newcommer Jenna, from the mother country and Leigh from Sydney graced us with their prescence. Jenna recived three votes for her debut but Leigh will be spending the rest of the season in the country chasing a kick.

Caroline and I organised it, in fairness I think I mentioned it to her during the week at school but she did all the leg work. A late start 8.30, required quick lubrication and shortly after ten we decided to dig in to some chicken. By 11 everybody's true colours began to show through and those of us who fit into category 2 of foreigners (fairly normal), sat back and enjoyed/endured the fireworks.

There were heated political debates, lonely hearts therapy sessions, tumbles, homophobic revelations, Korean cultural insights; courtesy of Joe who has been "censored" twice by ajuma's (old ladies) for taking his shirt off in a public park and finally a mass exodous of Korean men next to us. Who after one of them fell off his chair and a couple of people from our table who will remain nameless (Caroline) couldn't help yelling 'Taxi!!' split as the "Loss of face" cultural thing permiates here even when people are pissed. They left a table full of half drunk beer, now that's scandalous.
Once the dust had settled we realised the best part of 11, 3L pitchers of cass had been consumed plus the half dozen or so cans Troy bought from the off-licence across the road.
We stumbled off thoroughly enibriated, myself, not quite sure what shape i'd be tomorrow for the grand final.

Saturday, through bloodshot eyes Caroline and I braved the bus into Seoul and a 60 degree hike to the Hilton for the Australian/New Zealand association AFL bash. A lavish affair at the Hilton. Once the first hair of the dog had been settled at about midday we revved up for one of the best GF games I've seen.

Debra from Bupyung (previous revelry) joined us and so did another kiwi gal pal of Caroline's. It was an oasis of Australiana, and unexpectedly just what I needed. Also there were some embassy people and the ambassador from Australia to Korea, so that should give you some idea of the splendour.
During the afternoon various prizes were drawn and most were won from our table. Sadly I was a thorn between two roses as mercedes weekend car hire packages were won on both my left and right as well as golf bags. As you can imagine, when you buy raffle tickets on a table everyone's numbers are consecutive and Caroline and myself were on the edge of our seats on numerous occasions. I had West Coast by 35 points in the main draw, worth nearly a grand Australian and to be honest, I thought I looked the goods halfway through the game. Sadly no result but an enjoyable afternoon. After the game everybody scattered to different watering holes, I felt great but the combined effects of the night before would soon be arriving. I made my way back home and had a nice snooze.

Sunday, I had arranged to meet a mystery girl near my school. The reasons, at the time were hazy however I was ready to find out more first hand. One of the adults I teach in the arvo's had tee'd it up and through her broken English (which has improved,I might add) I had gleaned that the person I was to meet was indeed female and wanted to talk to someone about Australia for some reason. Sure.. I'd be happy to oblidge..

I met her, Catherine at midday on Sunday and it was very pleasant, like a date really without the awkwardness as, of course she had her honerable reasons for us meeting and so did I. We went to a traditional Korean restaurant for lunch and a nice coffee (which is impossible to find here) at a place she knows near her area. We said our goodbyes and agreed to meet later on in the week for some one on one intensive language lessons. She's off to Australia next year to do pharmacy in Sydney and needs to pass an English test to get accepted by the university.

Sunbong's sister was due to arrive at six for a week of Chusok revelry with Sunbong and the rest of their family over here and he and I had agreed to do "three stop's" in her honour and to celebrate the oncoming week off for every Korean other than me and Caroline. No... i'm not bitter and yes that was a monster sentence.
Three stops, usually requires; dinner and soju, beer and more beer at a sit down pub for us it was the 7080 where I was a hit and was asked on three occasions to request songs to be performed live and to sing up front which I gracefully refused.The Koreans don't stand or sit at a bar, it's all so civilised. Finally, third stop can be a titty bar if you're with blokes or a norebang (kareoke) if you have mixed company. The norebung brought Sunbong's sister undone and after one too many renditions of Proud Mary and Who'll Stop The Rain by CCR, which we butchered thoroughly, we exited.

Monday was untidy, however numbers were down and Tuesday was only 10 hours away and a public holiday. I had sheduled to meet Cath at two and we picked up where we left off from the previous lesson, she said goodbye at nineish after another fab feed.
Back again at school on Wednesday, simillar deal to Monday with low numbers and finally greeted a long weekend, four days. Fantastic... but the place is dead.
Had another marathon tutorial with Cath yesterday, so things are going swimmingly, and another planned for tomorrow which should break the monotony of my four day weekeed in a ghost town. It's like Campbell Town without the Jackman's!!

New's...
Caroline has organised an all expenses paid weekend tour of Korea's cultural sites next weekend, bunking down on the floor of a buddist monestry overnight! It should be fun and i'm looking forward to it. Debra's coming too.

Ok. Now some housekeeping:
Hotmail's becoming a bugger over here. Can't access it at school and some pc's at the pcbung are a little uncooperative. Please be paitent if you've sent me mail as I do appreciate it very, very very much !! and will get back to y'all as soon as I can.

Special hug's to Lara, sweetness, sugarpie x x x..., whose messages, i've finally recived and have been going into my junk mail section. She'd be appalled, and will surely have somebody's ass at microsoft !!

Oz grandfinal party's sounded awesome!! I'm pleased Swanky Entertainment has finally dragged it's arse out of recivership and put pen to paper again - It is a bit dissapointing however not to see its ageing CEO embrace modern technology and put his newsletter up on a blog (www.blogger.com) someone show him please, tis really easy, I can even do it in another language! Much more interactive and we can give Parker a more technologically advanced bolloking of which he so richly deserves. For the mean time I get much titilation from the newsletter so i'll post it here until the legal team from Swanky inc. gets me shut down.

I've got some photo's from the Hilton GF bash which i'll post later. Cheers y'all & happy Chusok!!

A day in the life....

2006-09-27T21:43:00.000+09:00

In any spare patch of dirt you will see random groups of ajuma's and ajoshi's ( Retired ol'folks) planting all sorts of crops to sell on street corners. Usually chilli or sweet potatoes like the ones we picked yesterday.

Bit of hot chilli action for the kids

2006-09-26T19:53:00.000+09:00

I know I said no more kid pic's but these guys are real troopers and loved a morning out picking sweet potatoes and chilli's.

Alice
Johny

Albert and Alice
Jasmine and Angela
Emily and the potato patch kids
Ajoshi, sampling the produce
Candy (yes, thats her name, bit dodgy..)
Cordelia, aka Miss Korea
Amy, hates the camera
Brian and Peter
Lunch time Korean style, don't sit on the grass when you have pavers or concrete to sit on. A day in the life of Kids Club!!!

A spot of fishing, the Korean way...

2006-09-25T18:24:00.000+09:00

I was picked up by Sunbong and his brother and we made our way to Gangwa Island. A couple of hours later and we find a spot. Artificial lake, chairs, tents, roughing it Korean style.

After sussing out the action, or lack of it the Lee brothers decided to seek a new venue.

After an initial hour or so we had lunch, a three course extravaganza served near the lake.

On we soldiered and I scored the first catch!!! Check it out, foul hooked on the gills.

Sunbong caught one other but otherwise it was a pretty unsuccessful mission. as six o'clock rolled round we headed back home for a feed. Don't think i'll put my hand up for another fishing trip as i'd had enough after the first couple of hours and didn't expect the day to be soooo loong. Oh, well, thats Korean, anything they do they do in a fanatical way. Sitting still watching a flourescent float for six hours is not my idea of a good time.

On a different note, I pulled a sicky today as I had a severe case of the C.B.F's. When I finally surfaced I went and got a massage and a haircut. The massage was awesome but the trim was a butchering job. Military style short back and sides with a few tufts left on top. I wouldn't have minded so much but at the back I have this white stripe which has never seen the sun next to my red neck. So, I guess i'll have to go for the swans.

I'd love to see anyone's Grand Final photo's from next weekend. So remember if you're having a party take a heap of photo's and email me.

The day after the night before...

2006-09-23T22:05:00.000+09:00

I went out in Bupyong last night, a very hot night spot with Caroline and Deb, a girl from Sydney!! Was a great night and ended up at my digs thoroughly trousered at a bout four. I'd aranged to go northeast for a drive with Sunbong previously, for Saturday morning and I woke ok... Bit shaky but no real ill effects. In about ten days time all of Korea shuts down for Chusok, their version of thanksgiving. Traditionally and literally every korean travels to the graves of their ancestors. Thus the expressways will turn into express parking lots!!!

Sunbongs parents grave is about 150k NE of seoul, about 3hours in good traffic. In addition to visiting during Chusok most Koreans visit prior to make sure the grave mound are well prepared and flowered etc etc. It only took us 10min to clear up and then for lunch we had an awesome feed of mundoo dumplings (like steamed dim sims in a chilli soup) at a restaurant which did the trick.
We went past the Bukhusan National Park which was nice and entered Seoul from the NE, which I haven't done before. Such a massive city, It still amazes me.

The traffic was thick as we wound past the ancient East Gate, markets and temples. Every day you see amazing things on the streets, strange vehicles, food, buildings or people. Usually they flash past and only get logged in the memory banks. I saw this guy as we were stopped in traffic, probably the biggest load i've seen so far. Scooters are every where and they carve thru the traffic, unhelmeted at break neck speeds.

There must have been protesters demonstrating near by as there was heaps of baby faced police and lines and lines of caged buses ready to take away anyone too overzealous. As we neared the presidents residence the scenery changed to tree lined avenues. This is the entrance of President Noh's Presidential palace, we went in for a bit of a sticky beak before heading home.

The Pres's digs are over the back.

Tomorrow we're off to do a spot of fishing with Sunbongs brother. I'm sure it will be 'The Korean Way'...

A very strange day...

2006-09-20T21:25:00.000+09:00

The day started off quite normal, albeit a bit sluggishly due to an unusual dose of insomnia during the night.
A field trip was planned and conducted in usual military precision, a la 'camp survivor training day'. It was an enjoyable morning and the afternoon sessions were business as usual till seven.
By which time I was very tired and got off the bus outside my apartment building with 't' and bed on my mind but unsure which order.

Sunbong was just walking out the lift and said he was off to have a BBQ ( Korean style, i'll get some photo's later, they're quite impressive) and he'd left a note on my door inviting me. So, easy decision, off to bbq we go. Sunbongs just recovering from a cold and i'm tired out so a quick feed is on both our minds.

Well two bottles of soju later and my bed is beckoning. We say our good bye's and for some reason I get up to my room and decide it's too early for bed, about nine, and I decide to go over to the pc bung to reply to some emails which are long overdue. I can't use hotmail at work for some reason and the pcbung is my only option.

So, i'm heading out the building and I hear this music blaring from across the street. On closer investigation there's dancing girls virtually on the main road opposite me jiving it up!! Also, a restaurant owner mate of mine (Mr Kim) from downstairs is talking to a guy dressed in drag from the same show near a car parked next to me.

Well... he's always good for a chat, so he and the drag guy who turns out to be a circus act explain to me that its opening night for this new live music club "7080'. Seventies and eighties music.

I realise I still have my camera on me and I ask the drag guy whether its ok to snap off a photo or two from across the street. Sure,no problem, he says and wanders over...

So I take this snap and as you can tell, it turns out pretty crap.
Oh well....

Ah yes! I think. I've got this new fangled camera and its got 'nightmode', I wonder whether that will help???

Na, not really. Oh well, i've still got my memories!! Me and Mr Kim sit on the edge of the footpath and discuss choreography and the art of physical expression. The routine finishes abruptly and after the girls go over the road to their minivan they come over to me, and they're not happy JAN!!!

They give me a massive spray in Korean which goes over my head but the meaning is not lost on me.... They are massively pissed off that I took a photo etc, etc, and are scared that they'll end up all over the net and their family will see etc etc... ( as if...) I do my best innocent look and shrug my shulders. Mr Kim jumps to my defence and returns their spray with interest and they go back to the van. The circus guy is now performing and the girls are in the van away from me which is good. What I don't want is them coming back with any sort of reinforcements, as my ability to talk my way out of situations over here is very limited as you can imagine.

'Mr Kim', I say,... 'let me buy you a drink back under our building'. Thinking i've definately had enough for one night but one more soju between us would be a nice way to thank him for sorting things for me.

So, were just about to finish this bottle and Sunbong mysteriously appears. He's just been back to my apartment banging on the door as; "Its opening night at this new club across the street 7080 and you definately must come over!!!" Mr Kim and I are in hysterics by now and I explain for obvious reason why I should give 7080 a wide berth for a while. Sunbong's adamant, "you must..., very special opening night show, etc etc, famous Korean performer..." He convinces me... Which surprisingly didn't take a huge amount since by this time I'm pretty gassed and got the grins.

Besides, I justify to myself... "1,those girls were on the fuckin street,... 2,I asked their he/she mate and he said ok,... 3, it's bloody funny that on a Tuesday night there can be dancing girls outside my apartment and finally, 4, as a conniseure of all things cultural I owe it to the boys back in oz to record this significant moment on film! The street show has finished and the clubs on the 6th floor, I should be fine and Sunbong's a local lad, he can bullshit a bullshitter i've seen him do it.

So, we're in 7080, a few mekju's (beers) later the street act comes in!! The girls have changed into civvie's and are still seething with me but theres no more confrontation. To top it all off queenie comes over to us and brings a beer for him and the girls! He's a barrell of laughs and the girls mellow a bit. Sunbong grabs my camera and asks them for a photo which sends them packing, queenie stays around for this pic and bolts soon after.

By this time i'm fully gassed, tired and sure bed must be next on the menu or the night may get messy.

A Bit of Northern Exposure.

2006-09-17T16:51:00.000+09:00

US Camp Bonita

From Bonita to the JSA.
JSA confrence room, luckily no visitors today, apparently they are sometimes in attendance.

Mmmm... note the distance between us. I didn't stay long.
Mad Kim's mate paid us a visit.

The grey pebbles are South the white are North.
Relaxed.... not.
Troy and Noboy get a bit romantic.

Still in the JSA, recent conflicts still occur within this circle.

The view looking north,south as our bus ran the gauntlet between the two buildings.
Back on the other side of the Southern side of the DMZ. The white pickets signify the actual North/South border.
The Northern Dmz finishes at the treeline. Further on the land has been decimated for firewood and food.

Mad Kim loves a good erection this one is 300m tall and swings a flag 35m X 90 and has a dry weight of half a tonne. The buildings below are the deserted propaganda city. Our guide points out the North lookout positions.

The Bridge of No Return.

Weary Veterans, Noboy, Troy and Caroline.

They still hold hope for the future but I dont think it will happen peacefully.

Super Saturday

2006-09-17T14:44:00.000+09:00

Friday night was a casual affair with a couple of icy bevvies with Rob, Caroline and Mr Park. Saturday morning required an early rise and it was surprisingly easy. Caroline and I had booked to go on a DMZ tour three weeks ago and luckily another guy we know in the appartment, Troy, had organised independent to us, to take his Japanese girlfriend, Noboy, who is visiting him for the next ten days.

The four of us met in the lobby at six and shared a taxi to U.S. base Camp Kim which is in the heart of Seoul. We left the base in a convoy of two tour buses and arrived at the U.S. base Bonita about an hour and a half later. The trip on the unification highway was erily devoid of traffic other than the occasional humvee or local farmer.
The South still maintain a civillian town of about 300 on the border of the dmz, which was discribed later as a deterent to both sides to act hastilly should a crisis arrive. The North also has a 'Propoganda town', numerous buildings, uninhabited near the base of their massive flag. Until 94, propoganda blared 24/7 from powerful speakers located with the town.

After relatively brief passport checks we were ushered into a briefing room and had the rules of the visit explained, and we then all signed a document which basically signed our life away for the period of the tour.

We left the U.S. base and proceeded in different, blue U.N. busses to an area called the Joint Security Area or JSA.

Firstly I should explain the DMZ, DeMilitarized Zone. Is a buffer strip roughly on the 38th parralel separating the peninsula into North and South. there is a deviding line marked with white pickets spaced every 10m along the ,roughly 240km west to east. Each side of the deviding line is a 2km strip. Heavily mined and heavily fortified. Altogether therefore it is a strip 4km wide extending east west across the peninsula. Both sides have made various aggreements during the ceasefire regarding troop numbers etc however declarations of peace are not on the table. The tension in the air is palpable and the whole environment could only be discribed as surreal.

So, into the JSA, into the South side of the DMZ, across the white markers and all the way north to the northern boundary of the northern side of the DMZ. Surrounded on three sides by the north and literally a single step away from their teritory.

Here we entered a light blue building, single file, no stopping, no pointing, no looking sideways. The building was a nondescript demountable type which was equally halved on both sides where occasional talks still take place. I was able to stand in Northern teritory briefly and surprisingly allowed to have my photo taken alongside ROK soldiers (southerners). Upon exiting the blue building the complete situations affect was fully realised by all of us when a lone Nort officer appeard casually on thir side and looked down on us with scrutiny. They often come down as far as the strip of concrete between the two buildings and taunt the southerners with all kind of abuse. I'm sure they give as well as they get. In addition to them being able to walk up to the concrete strip they also often visit the room we just exited. The southern sentrys are specially selected to stand guard here. Various requirements including being at least 6 foot tall, university educated and martial arts experts. Note the aggressive stances and glasses, all orchestrated in such a way to be intimidating.

Most intimidating to me is the permanently targeted and manned 170mm mortar batteries located behind the little man in the brown suit. The south with the help of the UN &S may well win the war but I get the destinct impression the North would draw first blood in a big way.

We left the JSA along a slightly different route and viewed the north from various other lookout posts and saw the 'bridge of no return' which was also erily deserted and overgrown.
Back in the US main camp we had some lunch and I bought a cool T shirt to mark the occasion. After lunch we went down the '3rd Tunnel of Aggression' discovered in 79. At this stage of the tour we were without need of US escorts and the tour took on the usual 'Korean way' feel. The tunnell tour was ok but its really the story of what it represents which is most impressive. A short film and a museum tour was next on the agenda with the usual pictures of what we had allready seen.

Anyway, back on the bus and back to civilisation at about 330 in the arvo. Caroline and I said goodbye to Troy and Noboy and went in to Itaewon, only two stops up the subway. Itaewon is the tourist zone and each time I visit I am reminded of why I stay away, just exploitive really.

Found a good secondhand store and bought my self a trashy novel as the tv channels have finally proven worthless to me over here which is a good thing really. Caroline was keen to try a Thai restaurant she also heard served indian. I've been craving lately for some butter chicken, a potato naan and a glass of mango lassi. However not to be and I had to settle for a chicken and cashew stir fry and a stubbie, its tough job really!!

We had to kill an hour or so and we have been discussing where to get a sports massage in our area. Spa houses and "barber shops" are a dime a dozen but I really wanted the kinks straightened out not applied... if you know what I mean. We walked past this inocent looking beauty salon which advertised exactly what we were looking for. 45minites later and 30 bucks each poorer we both felt amazing. I still feel amazing, Its by far the best and most painful massage i've everhad and i've had a few. The guy who did me was strong as an ox and like a wrestler stretching all my joints to what I thought would be way beyong their maximum. He even jumped on my spine and rode me like a surfboard with one foot on my but and the other pushing my shulders through the table.

The end result a good tour, a great massage and some nice food. A great way to spend a Saturday. on the way home Sunbong called and Rob, Caroline and I joined him for a few more beers. A great day all round. ( I'll post the photo's later) cheers.

South speed session

2006-09-12T22:08:00.000+09:00

Last weekend I went down south to Mokpo with Sunbong. As with most activities here it wasn't without it's element of graft.
Plan A was to head down and do some night fishing on a charter boat but as the wind was too strong the whole fleet of boats had to stay in port which was initially disapointing but we had our fix of fish eventually.

Firstly the trip's both down and back were adventurous. 390kms, 5hours down & 7 hours back!!! It would have been much much more if Sunbong was not such an awesome driver. we went as fast as was possible, upto 175km/ph passing cars left right and centre. Then we'd be stopped in what could only be discribed as a slow moving parking lot for an hour or so. The traffic would open up and we'd be off like the clappers once again. I saw a seven car pile up and many, many near misses. Crazy stuff. We also stopped at a service station for supplies..., kid you not there would have been more than 5000 people there doing the same. It was like parking for a football game at the 'G'.

His sister runs a hotel, and we checked in for nothing and had a great raw fish feed for t, saw a outdoor concert, walked along the pier and fired off some fire crackers to really get into the spirit of things. We then took off to a norebang bar (kareoke). The last thing I remember was singing 'Jailhouse Rock' and I challenge anyone to try and sing that song without yelling their head off from go to wo.

On the Sunday we took in the local sights, including the monument of the famous; General In su she, who defeated an armarda of 300 Jap invaders with only 12 ships in the channel behind where i'm sitting in the photo. The water is the sea, and many different currents force it to run really fast in the chanell which was really impressive. I got some video of it but can't load it here for some reason... You'll notice the bridge hasn't got any pillars supporting it as the water is too trecharous for working in.

During the weekend I added to my list of crazy food i've eaten with Live Squid!! You have to remember to chew cos the little bastards suck like crazy in all corners of your mouth before you get them down.

I had a Korean BBQ at school a couple of Friday nights ago and when I asked what the meat was I was told it was best I didn't know... A day or so later I remembered and asked Cordelia and I foun out the three meats were: cow heart, cow stomach and last but certainly not least cow rectum!!! Ahh... Cow intestines you mean, I say... Noo no no... the last foot of the cows exit...

I'm glad I didn't like it. But the heart wasn't too bad. Dog's still on my to do list, especially if I am to maintain my "stamina". Anything here odd to eat is considered great for stamina, sadly at present I have little cause to celebrate my masculinity. But I live in hope!

This weekend I'm off to the DMZ and I've sussed out a gang of Aussie's to celebrate Grand Final Day with later on in the month- so I hope the Bombers make it!!

Tecno Note, Cyber Nerd's!

2006-09-05T20:11:00.000+09:00

I accidentally double-clicked on one of my photos and it showed the photo on a separate page in real large size. Try it for yourself if you like, the city shots are particularly good blown up big.

Also,

1. No more kiddie shots on here unless they go for a special event somewhere or something is really funny. They're cute, I know, but I feel a bit dodgey putting them on the net.
2. This is a diary as well as a means of keeping in touch for me, soo.... If I rant and rave occasionally or often, well I appologise in advance. And I might like a bit of a swear every now and again as I don't think i've said 'Fuckkkk or Shhiit' out loud since I've been here. Entirely too fuckin polite for a fuckin Aussie!!

Cheers!!!

Mad Monday

2006-09-05T19:28:00.000+09:00

I'll have to stop having these peaceful, restful and scenic weekends, only to have a blinder early in the week. They are usually goodnights as most spontaneous events are but Koreans do not stop once they get started and once you are on the ride you cant get off.

I have a new Korean mate Sunbong, an older guy who lives in the apartment block. I've mentioned him before he's from Brissy but over here for biz.

I like a good feed of tuna/sushi early in the week to get the bod energised and theres a place downstairs which has great service and great food. I left a note on Sunbongs door to meet up and sure enough he came down and the revelry began. Rob joined us later and things got noisy. We were drinking soju, the local fire water, mixed with rice wine, which was served as shots. Well three or four teapots full of each and I found out I was wearing my wobbly boots.

No hangover today, thanks to the good feed but I certainly deserved one...
Great news, this weekend Sunbong has chartered a boat from Mokpo. Way down south for 10 guys from his company and he has invited me to come along!!! We are staying out all night on the boat and all is covered apart from booze for about 50 bucks each which I think is pretty good. Plus I'll get to see more of Korea as I've really only seen about a 100k radius around Seoul.

I'm really enjoying the work here apart from the fawkin looong hours which suck big time. The teachers at school are really nice and make me laugh at their funny ways. They are starting to tease me in a friendly way too which opens the door for some stiring back which is nice. I wish I new more Korean as their banter would be good to get in on. My body language reading is improving though and I sometimes shock them by knowing what they are talking about.

The kids are starting to caugh and splutter at the change of seasons and i think it wont be long until I get a dose myself. Have not been 100% healthwise since I've been here and need a rest but there is'nt one in sight, the Korean work ethic is phenomenal they just work, sleep, eat, work and on and on. On weekends they shop or study. They only get two weeks off a year and during that time they are probably even more busy if thats possible. Just the culture. There is no concept of leisure or a balanced lifestyle.

For example a Korean group of tourists will drive, stop for a photo, drive, stop for a photo, and on and on. Everything is scheduled, busy and everybody does all the activities together. Aussie/western tourists kick back, relax and do nothing when they are on holiday.

Maybe this is what they call culture shock. I'm not shocked negatively but there is no let up for my brain in all waking hours. Work is a nice relief because it is a friendly environment which I am familiar with and have some kind of control over. But even so I feel like i'm living alongside these people not with them. Knowing the language would help but my head space is still in survival mode and is'nt ready to take on the challenge just yet...

Anyway's I will post again after this weekends fishing trip and hopefully will have some good times to share.

Tight Line's, Y'all!!

The view from on top....

2006-09-03T19:33:00.000+09:00

The weather's cooled off a bit this last week, well the temp's not dropped a great deal but the humidity has. this is the view atop my building.

I met an Aussie/Korean guy, bout 50 who's from Brisbane and lives on the same level as me in my apartment block. He's the CEO of a car accessory import business and is over here for six months organising production in his factories. We've had dinner a few times and one time two weeks ago me, Rob and Sunbong, thats his name, got extremely gassed on soju and beer and ended up singing Van Morrison numbers in a local norebung ( Kareoke). If the Ctown crew remember my efforts on sing star you have some idea how pissed I have to be to warm up the vocal chords. On a weeknight... three hours later I had to do a lazy ten hours with the two foot terrors. Anyway's friday night Caroline, Rob, Sunbong and myself went to the roof of uor building and had a picnic of sorts. Pitchers of beer in plastic cups, a couple of fried chickens, mundoo (steamed dim sim type things-delicious) and gimbap (susi rolls). The view at night was pretty nice so when I got up in the morning I decided to take some snaps.

Caroline and I had plans to go to Namsan Park in the middle of Seoul and check out the big viewing tower in the middle of it. Caroline was missing in action after Friday nights revelry and I went solo anyway.

Once I managed to find the right bus to take me to the sumit, yea it's on a mountain, the view was spectacular. I'm definately coming back at night and in winter to check it out again. It's number 1 on my list of city things to do. Its spectacular, 360degree views, quietish, fresh air, no traffic sounds or smells. Lush tropical canopy of trees and some quaint relics from yesty-year.

I was happy to do this little jaunt solo as this is the type of place to go with no schedule and while away an hour or three.

I didn't bother to go up the tower as it was all glassed in and i'm sure all the snap happy locals would be too numerous for my tranquil mood.

I even got a bit artistic myself with the camera as the greenery and paths were very lush and green.

These are smoke signal furnaces to warn city if enemies approached from any direction, 15th century..

This is my fave pic, the city buildings go on forever and the Namsan tunnel sits bright green at the bottom. It would make a good jigsaw puzzle.

The park is serviced by a cable car which I took down, bit of an anticlimax really. Packed in like sardines, more transport than tourism. Ahh... the korean way kicks in again. Reality.., can a city of 22million actually meet tourist or western lifestyle needs...? And while I'm asking the important questions. Why do I have to hit the 'shift' button before I hit the '?' or '@' button? If I was either i'd feel a bit unappreciated.
How's my sanity....!

As i'm writing this page i'm listening to Roy & HG on the j's, this sporting life. A nice taste of Australiana amidst the war gamers i'm surrounded by.

Oooh... nearly forgot, the director called a meeting at six Friday night, I missed it cos I was teaching some yummy mummies. The upshot was however the hogwan (school) may close down due to a large govt funded english school opening up 200m down the road from us. The Govt subsidises the sub's to the tune of 70% so therefore we will inevitably lose some or many students to them. Fair enough I think, from the directors p.o.v we need to be teach better and be more entertaining. joke, joke... The teachers here are awesome both Korean and foreign, I've been told many times what a good job i'm doing and it's the parents who make the decision on where their kids go anyway. The kids have some influence but a raise in edutainment by 5-10 % is not going to make up for a 70% saving. I'm lucky I wasn't in the meeting as I probably would have said something. Probably in defence of our teaching or maybe hire a fawking cleaner. The place is 18 months old and hasn't been cleaned properly during that time. The Korean people overall are immaculatly groomed both male and female but their cleanliness of their environments do not enter their heads. Rubbish and mess surround and infest buildings.

Anyway's enough bitching, I might be able to get out of my contract if the school closes or downsizes. That would be a good thing. I have a teacher friend, Mr Park, ('see previous message and photo') who reckons he can get me a job with one of his friends who own a hagwan earning 3 mil per month working reasonable hours, so between the two I may be able to slither out one door and into another. Watch this space...